Eating My Words

I find myself fighting several battles as a parent, but two in particular stand out: managing time spent on electronics, and the amount of activities in our schedule. I will probably post separately on the electronics thing, when I am not too depressed to delve into the topic. I believe I have a better handle on the activities, as I have decreed a two-per-child limit . I also swore up and down that I would not let Danny play two sports at once. I mean, that's crazy. Right? You know, just like expanding from a two-child family is nuts. In other words, Danny is playing two sports this fall - and it's great.

He was bound and determined to try flag football this fall. Tim and I really wanted him to stick with soccer, since he was finally making some strides in that area. Danny said he'd play soccer again in the spring. Lo and behold, I stumbled across a flag football league that both practices and plays its games exclusively on Sunday afternoons. No double-booking with soccer games, no practices every night during the week. Just a way to keep him active while Laura naps on Sundays while maintaining his soccer momentum.

So this past weekend found us on the soccer field on Saturday, the football field on Sunday, and Danny very happy on both. He has moved up to the U8 league in soccer this year, and it's a brand-new ballgame: referees, throw-ins, corner kicks, and goalies. Danny was itching to play goalie, too, so he went in early on despite zero experience. Unfortunately, he let a goal slip past. But I am happy to report that later in the game, when he was returned to the position, he made two great saves. With some scoring by other players, the Flames were en fuego for their season opener!

Meanwhile, this was his first-ever experience with flag football. An early text from Tim indicated that this would be a good team for Danny, as the coach immediately started calling him Danny Boy. He received his reversible jersey (it's hard to exaggerate how cool he thinks this is) and hit the field with a lot of enthusiasm if not skill. Turns out sometimes it's not so terrible to eat your words (we do like Laura most of the time, too).