Happier Feet…Finally.

This morning marked our third Happy Feet (soccer) "practice" and I'll be honest, I was half tempted to skip. You see last week was just a total waste. Waste of time. Waste of money. Kaden never really followed the instructions given by his coach. He didn't kick Bob (the ball) when asked. He didn't sit quietly when asked. He ran in and out of the room. Grandma Sara and I both tried to reign him in and play along with the coach in hopes that Kaden would follow us but we lost the battle. Notice I didn't say war because today we would be heading back for Numero Tres Battle-O and I would do it all alone since Daddy was playing golf. We arrived in plenty of time. Kaden held my hand as we crossed the parking lot and he even went to the door to open and hold it for me as I lugged Logan inside. And then it started. Some lady came flying out of the door and it hit Kaden smack dab in the middle of the head and as she "apologized" (she did a shitty job of apologizing to Monkey) the goose egg started to shine. I was afraid we were headed down the same path as last week…

We started off okay. He did a few of the things the instructor said but for the most part ran around and kicked Bob back and forth, back and forth. A little over halfway through the class I was ready to leave. Kaden was sitting on the bench taking a break so I handed him his hat and told him to go and get the ball. When he went back in he liked what he saw-coach was singing a song and playing games with the kids. Kaden jumped right in with "Roll, Roll, Roll your Bob" (Sang to Row, Row, Row your boat) and for the next 10 minutes he was the star pupil and showing the gotta-be-almost-three-year-old-giants who was boss. I was one very proud Soccer Mom and very happy that I didn't make the non-interested Kaden go home early. All he needed was a little bit of time and a coach that truly interacted with each and everyone of the kids. The coach we had this week was amazing. He did so many fun things with the kids and had them laughing and high-fiving by the end of the class. He even got them all to huddle up, put their hands in and yell "Soccer is Fun" on three. It was precious to stand back and watch. The jury is still out on whether or not we will have a soccer star but at least we saw a glimpse of promise this weekend.