My little soccer girl

Last night was the start of TOPSoccer, a league for children with special needs. Ella was SOOOO excited. On the way there Ella says to me "I big kid now. I play soccer!" It is finally her turn to play soccer after watching her brother play for 3 years now while she is stuck in a stroller.

When we walked into the soccer center she took off running and kicking her ball from one end to the other, over and over again. She would kick it into the wall and leave her ball and come running over to us and say "Mommy, Nana, Andmom (Grandmom) I made it!" giving us all high fives and then running back to her ball and doing it over again. After about 20 minutes the head coach then says "it's time to start." Uh-oh. I knew Ella had to be getting worn out and she was. Every once in awhile she would put her hands up to her buddy (a high school girl named Josie who was paired up with Ella, poor Josie : ) and Josie would pick her up and Ella would stick her thumb in her mouth.

She did really well for the most part, only escaped twice, but always with Josie on her heels. Ella's real problem is that she likes to do what she wants when she wants, and by likes I mean she DOES what she wants when SHE wants! We are trying really hard to find ways to override Ella's impulsiveness but she is very hard to reason with when she is in that mode. But she really did do well, and most of all she had a BLAST! Even after dinner and at bedtime she was still telling us she is "excited" to play soccer and that she is a "big kid now!"

I'm actually quite impressed with Ella's running and her ability to run and kick the ball in a dribbling fashion. She looked good out there!!! I'm proud of my kid!!!

The quality of these pics aren't great due to lighting and constant movement.

Running and kicking

A typical Ella face....I'm sure she was either telling me to "zip mouth" or "get back." Ahh gotta love that she uses her words right???

more running

Ella and her buddy Josie. I bet Josie was REALLY tired last night!

Running to us to get her high fives, she was doing some sort of bowling/soccer game with these cones.

Bossing Josie around.

Head, shoulders, knees and toes with Riley! They looked so tiny out there!

Ella and Riley

This Saturday ought to be hard when I stick her back in the stroller for Bubba's soccer game : )

Can't wait until next Wednesday!

Kind words...

Sometimes I am just surprised by things people say. Typically I am surprised by the ignorant things people say....but today it's the kind things.

I have been planning on signing Ella up for t-ball with the girls softball league here. It's not a league that's just for kids with special needs (we have one but the kids have to be 5) it's just a league. My thinking behind this was that quite frankly all 4 year olds suck at t-ball. Okay maybe suck is a strong word, I just mean that none of them seem to have the attention span to stand in the field, none of them can really throw the ball where they aim, a lot of them run the wrong way to the bases etc. So, I figure, Ella can join in with relatively no problems! I went out and bought Ella a little glittery pink and purple glove and a pink bat in anticipation.

I go to fill out the registration online the other day and it says for girls 5-6. Ella doesn't turn 5 until August 30th, after the June/July season. I was seriously bummed.

When I was a young girl softball was my life, I even made Allstars in T-ball : ) But really, I lived for softball. I got to play on the Varsity team in high school as a Freshman but blew out my knee before the sophomore season. It took 5 surgeries to fix my knee, the last one being the week after I graduated high school, so needless to say that ended my softball career. I did attempt to play softball 2 summers ago only to figure out that I was no where near as good as I once had been and my body was also no where near what it had been and I broke my leg playing : ) Anyhow, when I had the ultrasound with Ella that ruled out Down syndrome (yes that's right RULED OUT Down syndrome, ha!) they informed me that my baby was a girl. Among the many many dreams I had for my daughter one was that she would become a softball star!

When I found out that Ella had Down syndrome after she was born softball just seemed to be another door that closed. Fastforward 4 1/2 years and I realize that she will not be the star of the team (not in the best player sense, but she will be a star all of her own I am sure,) but I think that she will really enjoy playing, and I know that I will REALLY enjoy watching her play!

So, back to registration. 5 and 6 years old. Dang! I decided to send the league a quick email just saying that my daughter will not be 5 until the end of the summer, any chance you will let her play? They write back "We would love to have her play." Awesome!!! But then I get worried, they gave me special permission for my 4 year old to play and I failed to mention that she is really really small, a little weaker, doesn't talk as well, and will need some assistance staying on task. So I write back "So, I suppose I should have put this in there too...my daughter has Down syndrome. I will be at every practice and game to assist. Still okay?" I'm not sure what I was expecting to get in response...either an email saying "as long as you are there with her", or maybe even "given the circumstances maybe she should wait until next year." But instead I get this email today.

" Fantastic. I am sure she will have much to teach all who come to know her. We look forward to a fun season with her."

Seriously??? Totally made me cry. I can't wait for my baby to play t-ball and I am extra excited to play on a league who has this great attitude!!!!

This Wednesday Ella will begin TOPSoccer. She will playing with a couple of her buddies, including her boyfriend Riley : ) I was just looking for a recent pic of these two but I found these cute ones from 2 summers ago. These two are SO cute together and truly are good friends!!

So far behind...

I feel like my blog has been severely neglected. I have SO many pictures that I haven't put on here, dating all the way back to last summer. I would like to say that I am going to be really good and get all caught up, but realistically that's not going to happen : )

Hunter had his 7th birthday on March 10th. I can NOT believe that my baby boy is 7, I mean seriously where does the time go???? I will have t o do a post all of his own very soon!!! Today was the first soccer game of the season and kicks off a VERY busy couple of months for us. This year Hunter's baseball and soccer overlap a lot, Mondays he has Boy Scouts, Wednesday he has baseball practice, Thursdays he has soccer practice and a baseball game, and Saturdays he has both soccer and baseball games. I'm tired just thinking about it all. We will also be heading in for an orthodontic consult in a little over a week, I don't think my bank account is at all ready for this, but the kid has two teeth that are coming in behind the rest because there is no room, so we'll do what we got to do!

Ella is doing great as well. We have made some changes around here lately.....I have pulled her out of private therapies until school gets out. We were both exhausted and her behavior was not so great which in turn made my patiences not existent. I really debated it, but I think this is what we need right now. She of course still gets therapy at school so I'm really not too worried about it. Ella will be starting soccer soon, she will be playing on a league for children with disabilities. I'm really looking forward to it, it will be on Wednesdays for 1 hour for 6 weeks. Her eyes seem to be doing really good. She still has some "residual crossing" when her glasses are off, although that seems to be less and less as time goes by, and we go back to the eye doctor in May to officially see how the surgery went and if her prescription changed. Currently her glasses are broken, she sent them down the slide at a friends house yesterday and one of the nose pads fell off. I of course can't get them fixed until Monday. I'm thinking summer might be rough on the glasses. I'm thinking about getting a spare pair after her appt in May but DANG they are expensive!!

Well, that's if for now.....I hope to be better about blogging : ) I will leave you with some pictures from Ella's swim party at school last week.....her teacher is so awesome and brave!!!