And so it begins.......

Audrey had her first soccer practice. She was so excited!

 She loved her socks, shin guards and cleats.

 Stretching like Daddy

We got there early so Barker and Audrey had a chance to kick the ball around a bit.

 She's mostly a lefty still. She dribbles and kicks well.

 My loves

Then we met her team and discovered that the soccer place put her on an ALL BOYS TEAM! Ugh!

 She's not blind and noticed immediately. I know my child well enough to know this was gonna go over like a Lead Zeppelin.

 She did okay when they took turns dribbling with the coach ...

and taking shots on goal. 

But then the coach had them line up and dribble in a race. Mind you, not only is she the ONLY GIRL, she's the smallest and probably the youngest. All the big boys took off and she fell, got up, and hugged her dad. Then she ran to me crying. It was awful. I somehow managed not to cry myself but I was so upset that she had to be in that position. She was so embarrassed. She cried huge tears on me and said "I can't. I'm not that fast and I'm not big." It was heart wrenching to see all the joy disappear from her face. I've never seen her cry from anything other than a boo boo until this incident. I told her I was sorry and had no idea she would be the only girl and smaller than everyone else. And I told her that during her game she wouldn't have to race, that she would be working with the boys as a team. Teamwork. So if she had the ball and didn't want to race to the goal, it's okay to pass it to a friend in the same color shirt. We'll see how it goes. I'm hoping that if she doesn't feel put on the spot and inadequate she'll enjoy it more. She was so excited for soccer and it just broke my heart to see all that go out the window because they put her on a team with these boys that are capable of things her tiny little legs aren't. It's tough. On one hand you don't want to teach her it's okay to quit if she's not 'perfect' at something on the first try, but I also don't like the idea of setting my child up to feel humiliated and inadequate on a weekly basis, and risk making her hate soccer or group activities all together. We really thought she'd like it and she has natural ability, so I hope this doesn't change her mind. But it really reinforced that I'm doing the right thing by starting her in public school a year later so she's the oldest in her class, instead of the youngest. When I took her to the first day this year I was shocked that she was in the same class with some of the other kids that are heads and shoulders taller and more mature than her. She just seems like a baby compared to the kids that are turning 4 this month. I hope other teams in the future are different because we have to be very careful with the self esteem of my poor tender hearted little girl.