December Daily : Day Ten

Tonight we are celebrating Simon's first time attending soccer practice. They have this really cool program locally called Tops Soccer that pairs kids with physical/cognitive special needs (K - high school) with a bunch of super-soccer kids who teach them the basics.

Simon's two buddies did pretty darn good working with him for a first-time experience. They played chase, passed the ball, chased some more (which turned it into tag), and did some other drills (and then a little more chase to top it off). You can only imagine how cool it was to see all the kids working together, helping each other out, and cheering each other on.

And of course, it was not an event without a bit of parental intervention. The first time for anything is a lot to take in all at once for any kid. I know he loved the freedom to just run and run and run but some other behaviors cropped up as he was figuring out what was ok and not ok. There was some "picking-up-the-ball-and-throwing-it-at-other-kids (directly at other kids)" on the field so I ran a bit of interference:

and then he decided it was fun to run away from his new buddies and go behind the goals (again + again).

So next it was Chris' turn:

We love taking turns.

The practice was an hour and he was definitely getting tired by the end.

Overall, cool experience. Great physical outlet and safe place. Pretty sure he will want to go back again next week.