Who is THAT kid?

I haven't mentioned dude's soccer skills in quite a while. There's a reason for that. We haven't ventured to the soccer field for the past 2 weeks. There was a mild (well, maybe more like a major) meltdown 3 weeks ago come game time and so we decided to take a couple weeks off to spare the utter embarrassment. Yesterday was his very last game, so we insisted that he would play and insisted that he would love it.

It didn't start well at the homestead. He ran upstairs to his playroom, refusing to get ready. "I no play soccer today Mommy. I stay home and play with da ball machine ok?" We eventually got the shin guards and jersey on and took a crabby kid to the field. When we arrived at soccer central, Dude jumped out of the stroller, ran to his coach, red ball in hand, and practiced like a champ. He kicked when told to kick, ran when told to run, scored goals when told to score goals and didn't once run to me for a "water bottle break." The half hour practice typically goes well, so we were bracing ourselves for the nightmare we call "game time." That's when our soccer star usually loses his star power.

A miracle took place at this point. Dude sat on the sideline with his team mates and told Coach Nate that, "I wanna play soccer wif da kids now coach!" Coach Nate jumped on his enthusiasm, led him to the field and guided him where to run. Dude was laughing, doing his squinty eyed smile, made contact with the ball a few times, which lead him to look over to us with pure glee, and even got a kick out of being knocked out flat on his face by an opponent. We thought for sure that would end the fun, but our kid got up, kept running and continued this wonderful cycle of soccer fun for the half hour game. He didn't ask for peanut butter jelly, he didn't flail his arms when the ball didn't come his way, he didn't run to me for consoling, he didn't jump in the stroller, insisting that it was time to go home and he only picked a few dandelions on the field during game time. I did hear him talking to Coach Nate about baby Delaney a few times while running around the field, but whatever. He was happy. Tim and I took in every single second of this new found soccer joy. We kept looking at each other saying, "Are you seeing this?" Way to round out the season dude. We're oh so proud of you and have a glimmer of hope that soccer 2011 just might be a possibility.