SoccerTots for Hunter

Alright readers! I'm back to blogging again! I know I know I know....it's been about 3 weeks since I last posted something! We've been super busy for a while but I'll go into that later! For now, I'm going to stick to the topic of SoccerTots and update you gradually as I post more!

So to begin, if you're following me on Facebook, you probably know that I signed Hunter up for SoccerTots this fall. I've wanted to sign him up since he was 18 months, but at that point, I had a little newborn baby and wouldn't have been able to help him during class, like required when they are that young. Now that Hunter is older, he's able to participate on his own, which makes it easier on me, but not for poor little JP! 

In the last week leading up to soccer, we've done a lot of talking about soccer to get Hunter really excited about going. He was so excited to go! And JP was so excited to go too...but only because he was convinced we signed him up for beach volleyball! He's told everyone that's what he going to be playing. I didn't have the heart to tell him he was just going to have to watch. It was to the point that when I told Hunter before we left that we had to change into his soccer clothes, JP insisted I change him into his beach volleyball clothes!

When we arrived, ironically, Hunter didn't want anything to with soccer, but JP did! 

Perry gave Hunter a little pep talk and then the instructor came over and gave him a balloon and then he warmed up pretty quickly.

 Hunter and JP were running around the field in no time! I figured I'd let JP run around in between sessions so he didn't feel totally left out.

Perry and I were impressed with how long Hunter *actually* sat still and listened!

One of the first games they did involved them using the foam noodles you see at the swimming pool. Basically they were to run around an "tickle" Coach Joe with the noodles. Here's a video so you can see how Hunter did. (He's the one in the red!)

 The next game they played was called "Messy Monkey, Good Monkey" where they were handed these cone that they were instructed to place anywhere on the grass. Next they had to kick them down, and then Coach Joe had them stand them up with their feet. He asked the kids "What happens when we make a mess? What do we have to do?" One of the boys responded with "Tell mommy!" The correct answer of course was "clean it up". A few of us moms on the side cracked up, but that video was taking forever to upload so I ended up aborting it. Anyways, the next time they kicked them down, Coach Joe had them clean them up by picking them up with their foot and grabbing it with their hands. Hunter got one. As you can see, most of the other kids got the concept. Hunter just got the "we need to clean them up" concept. Ah well.

 For the most part Hunter was pretty good at listening and returning to his spot when asked. But of course there were times when he didn't. He was definitely *that kid* of the group.

 JP turned out to be a trooper too! He watch patiently and occupied some of the time by playing letters on my Kindle Fire. So glad I brought that along!

But like I said, there were times Hunter didn't want to join in on some of the activities, so he was caught doing this pretty often too! A few times during the session, Perry went out on the field to help Hunter get back on track...and once to retrieve JP.