Having a Ball

Ava has pink cleats. Actually, they're little black Nike cleats with a pink swoosh and pink soles. She's been waiting to wear them for several days now. Today, she finally got to lace those fancy things up and take them out on the soccer field. Because today our little princess started spring soccer. She's been counting down the days, not only because she loves soccer, but because she'd be on the same team as her friend A.J. (who also has pink Nike cleats).

The girls

The only problem? Today wasn't very spring-y. Rather than running in the sun, on green grass with birds chirping in the background, these poor kids played on a windy, cold, overcast, grassless day.

Things started out good, the excitement seemed to keep Ava warm. She worked on kicking and passing drills with her teammates and after 20 minutes, it was game time. At this point, she had enough adrenaline pumping through her veins to keep her legs moving. She chased the ball, was aggressive, had several great kicks and even came *this* close to scoring a goal.

Throw-in... her favorite!

She was smiling and giving it her all, and then, the cold kicked in. I don't know at what point she realized she had no feeling in her fingers, but I saw it on her face as soon as it hit her. She looked at me, a little scared and ran off the field. I quickly bundled her in a blanket and rubbed her body for warmth. After a few minutes, she was back on the field. A minute later, she was back off. Again, I warmed her up and back in she went.

Running back on to the field together

But then, she got kicked in the leg, not hard, but she got two shots this morning and that just happened to be where the kick landed. I think the cold coupled with the kick made the pain seem much worse. At that point, she was done. She and A.J. both ran off the field and bundled up together in a blanket. Despite our attempts, neither myself nor A.J.'s parents could convince the girls to give it another go. They had checked out. Ava said, "We'll go back out on Saturday" (their next game day).

This is how Jax watched the game.

Despite checking out in the end, Ava did great! She played hard, she tried her best and she had fun! Ultimately, that's what it's all about. And she had a great little cheerleader in her baby brother who kept yelling, "Go, Ava!" "Get the ball, Ava!" Not to mention, she looked darn cute in her little soccer uniform!