Athlete? Maybe. Princess? Forever!

Last Thursday was Gracie's first soccer practice. I drove her clear across town, after dropping the boys off at football practice on the other side of town. We met her coach and the other girls on the team. Then Gracie went on the field with her teammates to practice. Gracie had her pointer finger in her mouth the ENTIRE practice and would hardly kick the ball. The only time her finger came out of her mouth was to PICK UP the soccer ball with her HANDS, place it where she wanted it, and then lightly tap the ball with her foot. I thought having gone to the watch the boys play soccer every year of her life, she would have picked up on a few things... like, DON'T TOUCH THE BALL WITH YOUR HANDS! Anyway, when practice was over the coach said she'd see us at the game and that it was going to be fun. UH- HUH, I thought. Sure it would be... for the parents whose daughters knew what they were doing.

Saturday morning we got to the game early for pictures. Gracie had been very particular about how we did her hair and what hair accessories she should have in her hair. She brought her new pink soccer ball to warm up with. You know, to pick up with her hands, place in front of the goal and kick it in. The game started and to no one's surprise, Gracie sat out during the first quarter. At the beginning of the second quarter she went into play. I was happy to see that her finger was not in her mouth. Instead, her arms were out to her side like she was flapping imaginary wings. She began chasing the ball down the field, screaming like a GIRL the whole time. She then took the ball away from the other team, WITH HER FEET, dribbled the ball down to her goal (still screaming), and scored her first goal! Here is a picture of it as she was kicking it in.

"What?" you ask! It is true. She was an animal out there. She was not afraid to get right in the middle of the action. She was everywhere the ball was with her arms up, and screaming. She scored THREE of four goals that morning.

I was in shock, and still am. She collided with her best friend, Ashlyn, during the game who happened to be playing against her. Poor Ash started crying and had to sit out for a while. Gracie jumped back up and got right back into the action. This was the collision :(

I was so ecstatic. I thought, "Yeah, maybe she won't be a cheerleader afterall". However, as soon as her game was over Gracie asked if she could take off the things that made her sweaty (the shin guards), take a bath to get clean, and have her toenails painted. Oh well, I will just have to keep trying.