The heart of yesterday's post

As I was driving home from carloop yesterday afternoon, I felt like I'd left the heart out of my last post... I didn't mean for it to be about soccer as much as I'd intended to write about the growth we've seen in Zachary. For a year and a half in preschool, Zach was uncomfortable "performing" in front of others. He could easily and comfortably participate in classroom discussion, but he had absolutely no desire to be IN FRONT of a group. When his pre-K graduation rolled around 3 1/2 months ago, we fully expected for him to just sit on the stage and not participate. That's why it was such a big deal for us when he sang and danced his heart out in front of all the kids' families.

In preschool, Zach played the games that he knew during gross motor time, but he was too bashful to try anything at school that he hadn't already mastered in private. Even at home he was "too shy" to try new things in front of us. And there were several mini-meltdowns at his first session of soccer camp this summer when they were learning to juggle or playing various other games that he didn't know.

But through this last six months of playing soccer, his confidence has grown. He's no longer afraid to try new things - on the soccer field, at home, in the classroom, on the playground, in the St. Louis Arch, or on a roller rink. He has just matured so very much and we are absolutely thrilled to see this new found confidence and all the fun he is having with it.

First time on roller skates - last Thursday.
So clumsy on those things, but he had a great time!