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Settling in
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 08:06 amOur school week routine has become much easier now that the Impertinent Daughter is in junior high, and the Impossible Son is older and more willing to do things for himself. (of course, there's a trade off for that). For one thing, Miss Priss' school starts up earlier than Mr. Manzie's, so I take her first, and him second. For another, she's more willing to get up early (6:30 as opposed to 7 AM) because her papa made a bet with her. If she can get to school on time the whole year, can help me out in the mornings so we're not rushed, and doesn't slow me down asking me to do things she can do for herself (that was one of our big issues last year), she'll get $50 for her savings account.
We haven't been late yet.
It's also nice to have willing help in the mornings, and now, about the only thing I have to do for her is help her with her hair. We're a little more girly this year. And, there's this boy (y'all were just WAITNG for that one, weren't y'all?), a fellow manga and anime lover who she hangs out with in the cafeteria in the morning, drawing their own little manga world. So, things go a lot smoother. That and packing a bento for her lunch is much easier than packing a traditional lunch, to my absolute surprise! Now... if I can just convince the Impossible Son to let me pack HIM a bento...
Funnily enough, the Husbandly One has asked me to start packing HIM a bento, too.
Everybody's getting on a bento kick around here.
Anyhow, with soccer season heating up, weekends do not belong to us anymore. While we are fortunate that all of Mr. Manzie's games are here at home, Miss Priss's games are here, and in South Austin. And I found out at the soccer board meeting that if she wants to play in college (which she does, because she wants a scholarship; she's really driven about that), well, we may want to rethink where she's playing. Apparently, college scouts do not look at what they call rec (recreation) leagues. They look at school teams, and select teams. We do not have enough kids in our league to make up a select team at U-12 all the way up through U-18. Nor do we have the money. So, if Miss Priss wants to play select, we have to get her into leagues in Bastrop, San Marcos, or Austin.
That costs money.
So, I guess what we need to do is sit down with her and find out just how serious about soccer she is. If she just enjoys it as something she likes to do because it's fun, then she'll just play here. But if she wants to do this, because Soccer Is Life, and she's serious about playing in college, then we need to do some serious planning.
*sigh*
I remember the disappointment in my dad's face when I told him I didn't want to play baseball anymore. I was the only girl on a Little League team at a time when girls didn't really play baseball. And while I was fairly good at it (let's face it, I HAD to be, because they weren't going to let a girl play on a boys' team if she SUCKED!), it just wasn't what I wanted to do. I was tired of all the taunts from PARENTS (Why don't you go home and play with your Barbies! Doesn't your mommy WANT you?? Why do you want to be a BOY so bad, is something WRONG with you?) and tired of being singled out by the boys from the other teams, tired of having to prove myself over and over, not to the guys on MY team, because they knew me, knew what I could do, and had no problem with it, and just... tired. I tried girls' fastpitch softball for a while, but... nah.
What I'm saying is, I don't want to put pressure on her. I don't want her to feel like she has to do this because I want her to, or her papa wants her to, or the gods of soccer want her to. She should play because she loves it, it's what SHE wants to do, and it's Her Thing. Because it is Her Thing. She gets this focus and intensity when she's on the field that I don't see anywhere else. When she's running down the field, dribbling the ball, stealing it from opponents, doing all her cool, Jedi soccer tricks, nothing else exists. She doesn't even hear us cheering for her. My Gurrilla Gurl rips it, totally. When she gets knocked down (she's still small, compared to the other kids), she hops right back up, her jaw set, that head goes down, and LOOK OUT!! She doesn't knock them back down, or even touch them, but oh, does she get them!! They won't get near that ball for the rest of the half!
So, if that's what she wants, if that's what her focus is, if this is the Thing She Wants To Do... then... we'll go select.
Ah, the vagaries of being a parent!
We haven't been late yet.
It's also nice to have willing help in the mornings, and now, about the only thing I have to do for her is help her with her hair. We're a little more girly this year. And, there's this boy (y'all were just WAITNG for that one, weren't y'all?), a fellow manga and anime lover who she hangs out with in the cafeteria in the morning, drawing their own little manga world. So, things go a lot smoother. That and packing a bento for her lunch is much easier than packing a traditional lunch, to my absolute surprise! Now... if I can just convince the Impossible Son to let me pack HIM a bento...
Funnily enough, the Husbandly One has asked me to start packing HIM a bento, too.
Everybody's getting on a bento kick around here.
Anyhow, with soccer season heating up, weekends do not belong to us anymore. While we are fortunate that all of Mr. Manzie's games are here at home, Miss Priss's games are here, and in South Austin. And I found out at the soccer board meeting that if she wants to play in college (which she does, because she wants a scholarship; she's really driven about that), well, we may want to rethink where she's playing. Apparently, college scouts do not look at what they call rec (recreation) leagues. They look at school teams, and select teams. We do not have enough kids in our league to make up a select team at U-12 all the way up through U-18. Nor do we have the money. So, if Miss Priss wants to play select, we have to get her into leagues in Bastrop, San Marcos, or Austin.
That costs money.
So, I guess what we need to do is sit down with her and find out just how serious about soccer she is. If she just enjoys it as something she likes to do because it's fun, then she'll just play here. But if she wants to do this, because Soccer Is Life, and she's serious about playing in college, then we need to do some serious planning.
*sigh*
I remember the disappointment in my dad's face when I told him I didn't want to play baseball anymore. I was the only girl on a Little League team at a time when girls didn't really play baseball. And while I was fairly good at it (let's face it, I HAD to be, because they weren't going to let a girl play on a boys' team if she SUCKED!), it just wasn't what I wanted to do. I was tired of all the taunts from PARENTS (Why don't you go home and play with your Barbies! Doesn't your mommy WANT you?? Why do you want to be a BOY so bad, is something WRONG with you?) and tired of being singled out by the boys from the other teams, tired of having to prove myself over and over, not to the guys on MY team, because they knew me, knew what I could do, and had no problem with it, and just... tired. I tried girls' fastpitch softball for a while, but... nah.
What I'm saying is, I don't want to put pressure on her. I don't want her to feel like she has to do this because I want her to, or her papa wants her to, or the gods of soccer want her to. She should play because she loves it, it's what SHE wants to do, and it's Her Thing. Because it is Her Thing. She gets this focus and intensity when she's on the field that I don't see anywhere else. When she's running down the field, dribbling the ball, stealing it from opponents, doing all her cool, Jedi soccer tricks, nothing else exists. She doesn't even hear us cheering for her. My Gurrilla Gurl rips it, totally. When she gets knocked down (she's still small, compared to the other kids), she hops right back up, her jaw set, that head goes down, and LOOK OUT!! She doesn't knock them back down, or even touch them, but oh, does she get them!! They won't get near that ball for the rest of the half!
So, if that's what she wants, if that's what her focus is, if this is the Thing She Wants To Do... then... we'll go select.
Ah, the vagaries of being a parent!
