Sunday, January 25, 2009

Stowaway




Doodle, now just a little over two years shy of being a teenager, is rapidly becoming more mature and sophisticated. I see it in her sense of humor, in her decision making skills, and in her increased sense of style. However, every now and then she'll seem like a little girl again. Saturday's indoor soccer game shows both sides of my girl.

Coach Mike told the girls last week that they each would take a turn as goalie over the course of the 7 game season. Most of the girls don't like to play goalie, and Doodle is no exception. Doodle is a data/sports statistics hound so she spent some time this week looking at the standings. She discovered that the team that they would face yesterday lost last week and that their next opponent won very easily, so she decided to volunteer to be goalie for the first half yesterday (proof of her decision making skills). She did so bravely, but with butterflies in her stomach as we drove to the field. Doodle played well, and her teammates dominated the first half offensively, so once again no goals were scored against her (no one has scored a goal against her in the handful of games in which she has played goalie). Ultimately Doodle's team won 5-2, and about half the team went out to dinner together afterwards. Later in the evening, as I unpacked her bag, I found the usual water bottle, different colored game jersey, and extra socks. But I didn't expect to find her beloved teddy bear Abage at the bottom of the bag. She took him along for extra support. I can't recall Abage ever going along to preschool or school but he was a stowaway on Saturday night.

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