Curran Update: 40 Months

I wanted to give a little update on our older child since her little sis gets a good bit of the spotlight these days. CurryBug is keeping us on our toes, as always. We have started the busy life of extracurriculars. She just finished her first soccer season. They had games every Thursday at 6pm. She said she liked soccer, but her favorite part was definitely the snack. :) For the first two weeks, they just had "practice" {I use that term loosely} and learned the basics of the game. The third week was when they had their first game against another team. They played 3 vs. 3 and rotated all the kids in and out. There were 7 kids on Curran's team: 4 boys and 3 girls. All the boys were pretty good {well, as good as 3 yr olds who've never played soccer can be}, but 2 of the boys really knew what they were doing. {One of them was the coach's son, and John was convinced he had him running drills every day at home.} Anyway, the boys were WILD, and the girls were a little less than enthusiastic. They didn't like taking the ball away from each other, and Curran spent a lot of time pulling her too-big jersey down over her shoulders or running over to the sidelines for a reassuring hug and kiss from Mom and Dad.

So back to the first game- Curran was the last one to get put in to play. I have to say that the inner Soccer Mom in me did not like seeing my kid picked last, but let's be honest here: when the coach asked her to go in, she told him she was too busy eating her snack. So he knows who he's working with. {She eventually did play a little and even took the ball from the other team! Huge for her.} On the way home from a game one night, I asked her if she had fun, and she said "YEAH!" But then she said kinda sadly, "But no one will give me the ball." I told her that she had to take the ball. She replied that she didn't want to do that. She may not be the most talented, but at least she's sweet! :) And ok, I have to remind myself that she's THREE and has no idea what she's doing. I think know I may be a little too competitive for my own good. I would start yelling directions at her from the sidelines and get so frustrated when she would continue twirling around and not paying a bit of attention to the game. I don't care if she was the worst one on the team; I just wanted her to pay attention. BUT, she was having fun regardless of what I thought. And that's all that matters. {And I'm just going to keep repeating that to myself.} I will say that she was the only kid on our team who didn't cry or have a meltdown. Those soccer fields were just full of tantrums no matter which direction you looked. I mean, they were 3 after all, but still. Our team finished the season undefeated. Not that anyone was keeping score {not even me, I promise}. But two of the boys on our team just scored goal after goal. Only rarely did someone on the other team score against us. Curran even scored a goal during one game. I was SO proud of her! {She even had lots of people cheering her on that day who got to witness the monumental event- my parents, Chris, Craig, Sinclair, Katharyn, John and Louis}. The coach was yelling at his son who ran alongside Curran not to take the ball away from her. :) Afterwards I was telling her how proud I was of her, and she said, "It was really hard work." The only thing that even motivated her to keep playing during that game was that she wanted a Capri Sun so I kept telling her she could have it in "one more minute. Keep playing!" :)

Here are some pics from the season that uploaded out of order.

team huddle

cutest cheerleader

excitement on the sidelines

Curran's favorite part

Sinclair loved to say "Goooo Cur Cur!"

Marc had to wrangle S a few times and keep her from running onto the fields.

This basically gives you an idea of what the games looked like. Some random boy on the other team jumping up and down while C rolled around in the grass.

This was the last game and it was FREEZING! I was so glad the season was over. It was hard rushing to get there after work and having SC out past her bedtime.

But she got a medal! {I was a little bummed they didn't get trophies but she probably likes the medal more than she would a trophy. :) } I'm not sure if/when she'll play again. I'm totally leaving it up to her at this point now that she knows what it's about.

Besides soccer, she does dance {ballet and tap} every Tuesday at school. A local dance company comes in and teaches the kids every week, and they have a big recital at the end of the school year.

Here she was trying on her outfit for the first time. She went through a phase where she wanted to wear it every day. She seems to really like dance, and I get the biggest kick when she shows me her moves. :) Can't wait for the recital!

Some other random things:

It took her 3 weeks but she finally asked about Ellie. We were driving to school one morning and she asked when we were getting Ellie from the vet. I then had to tell her that Ellie was in heaven. She asked some hard questions, and we were both in tears when we pulled into her school. She kept saying things like, "Awww, poor Ellie. Who's going to be my dog now? Awww, she was a good dog. Who's going to go to heaven to get her for us? Ellie was my favorite dog." She brought it up a few more times, usually on the way to school.

Ellie's death has brought up lots of conversations about heaven and death. It's hard to explain the concept of heaven to a 3 yr old, and I can tell it freaks her out a little. She asked if I would go to heaven with her when she goes. She is has been very into reading her Jesus Storybook Bible lately, and she asks a lot about where God and Jesus are.

Thankfully she is sleeping much better these days {compared to how she was sleeping when I did her 3 yr update}. She is back to taking a nap almost every day, and she is finally back to sleeping through the night {in her bed} most nights. We still have times when she wakes up and gets in bed with us, but for the most part we are all getting a lot more sleep these days! {Funny that as I was typing this yesterday she was refusing to nap, and last night she was up multiple times.}

She is really into Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music lately. She knows almost all the songs, and it's fun for her to like movies I enjoy watching, too. :)

She is big into name calling and potty humor these days. Those are the things we correct most often, it seems like. Her zingers usually include some sort of 'baby dodo' or 'poopy'. It's super annoying. She can be so sassy and bossy one minute and then so sweet the next. She was helping me bathe Sallie Cate last night, and she patted me on the back and out of no where said, "You're a good mama." It made me tear up a little as this was at the end of a challenging day filled with lots of discipline. Then while I was cooking supper she came in the kitchen and said, "You know I love you, right Mama? You and me and daddy and Sallie Cate- we're all best friends." Melt my heart! Wish I could freeze those sweet moments {and fast forward through the grumpy times :) }.