Women's World Cup

Viewing party of England vs. USA with a divided fan base. 

 

The calmest moment of the game while everyone is eating ice-cream sandwiches.

We have been watching the Women's World Cup soccer.  I think it's especially important as the girls see Sam do so many sports to know that there are professional women athletes. This usually involves some kind of family fight, Vivian doing headstands on the couches, and Sam yelling that he can't hear. But anyway, today Lanie walked by (she was busy playing), and said, "oh, yes, when I have a braid like that I will kick the ball like that," and continued on her way through the room. Vivian left to go and ask the Google Home questions such as, "show me pictures of England," (she thinks she'll move there), and "show me photos of Long Island," and "hey Google, play calm music."

When the USA won today, Lanie passed back through and asked, "did she get it in the goal?"

"Yes," said Sam, "twice."

At least he watched the games through and saw the determination and skill level (and head injuries).

Subbuteo

As Sam loves playing soccer, I thought it would be fun to pull out a game that my parents have their house.  My brother played it as a child and my mom played it with her own brother as a child.

I retrieved it from the attic, literally dusted it off, repaired some broken plastic pieces with Gorilla glue, while my mom ironed the felt pitch so that it was smooth.  By the time it was ready to play, both the girls were waking up from naps. We read the rules and Sam started to play anyway and when Tessa arrived, she spent a long, patient time playing with him.

He wanted to take the game home, but we told him it had to stay there.  On the way home he told me he was going to make one at home.
"Sure, that's a great idea," I agreed. 

The next day I came back from running errands and it was very quiet.  "Where's Sam?" I asked Chris.
"Upstairs making a Subbuteo game," he answered.
When I went to check, sure enough, he had made a Subbuteo pitch, on his curtain. The tension curtain rod had been knocked down the day before during a playdate, so it was convenient and about the right size.  I could understand the appeal.
Then I realized he had made the players by Gorilla gluing his American football figurines to wooden checkers.  So now the one checker set in the house that was complete, now has football players glued to it. The soccer ball? "Borrowed" from Vivian's soccer Barbie.

 I decided to start a bin in the basement of materials that we can use for projects.  It won't include things like household decor.

I did ask what he was going to use for a curtain on that window now, and he said, "the Subbuteo board, it's okay, I'll have a soccer curtain."

"So, everytime you want to play you'll take it down?" I asked.

"Oh. I didn't think of that," he answered. "Hmm..."

Toddler Soccer

Fast forward through a a chaotic and exhausting beginning to school to mid fall and the chaos of toddler soccer (using a credit that needed to be used before it expired).

Soccer

Soccer is prefaced by a song about not using hands- apparently it takes a while for the kids to remember. 

Vivian today.

Sam over the summer when he asked hands could be used near the goal (or something along those lines).

Soccer

Not too exciting, but a one minute video of Sam at soccer class, (he ended up being the only one there), and Vivian playing soccer solo on the side (though there were numerous attempts at joining Sam).  They have their own personal cheer in section of GrandJoe.

Soccer

Sam was getting frustrated trying to score a goal against his soccer coach.  The conversation in this video is along the lines of:

Sam:  "So the goalie gets to use hands, right?"

Coach: "Yes, the goalie can use his hands.  But he can only get the ball with his hands if he is near the net."