Soccer, Haircut & More!

After seeing a picture of a fellow Pod member's son (about 2.5 years old) in a picture with a soccer jersey on, posing with his teammates, it made me want to sign Cael up for soccer as soon as he was old enough. I played soccer when I was young, and my mom coached, so why wouldn't I want Cael to play too!? Well, when she told me that they started at 18 months, I was ecstatic. Actually, I was stupid-excited. I signed up Cael up that day. They're 12 week "seasons", meeting once a week for 50 minutes, and it was $150 for the 12 weeks. That includes a jersey and a team photo emailed to you, as well. I was able to sign up just a week before the first practice, so Cael didn't miss anything. And even if we signed up late, the cost would be prorated, which is nice to know.

I really didn't know what to expect, since the kids are so young. From what I read on their website, they do activities to work on cognition, as well as "play" soccer. These activities use cones, parachutes, balls, and various other paraphernalia that I can't remember the names of. I was worried about being able to keep Cael's attention since he's all over the place, and doesn't quite follow instructions yet. Not to mention he has a very short attention span, which is to be expected. But I was very pleased.

They started off with letting the kids play with the soccer balls while they waited for everyone to show up. Then once everyone was there, the Coach had everyone sit in a circle and do some stretches. Of course, Cael doesn't want to sit still, and screamed when we tried to get him to sit down. He wasn't the only one, though. Then we played Red Light, Green Light. That was interesting, because the kids didn't want to stop. So we heard a bunch of whines when the coach had the red circle, and yelled "stop!", and all the parents grabbed their kids to get them to stop. It was funny, actually. Then the coach set up an obstacle course with hula-hoops and some colored, rubber things that look like rocks. The kids had to step on the "plastic rocks" and jump into the hula-hoop, while following the white line on the ground around the goal net. Cael seemed to like that the most, as he loves stepping on the "plastic rocks". Some other activities included bubbles, building cone towers and kicking them over, and kicking rubber bouncy balls around. Then the kids have to help clean up all the balls. Overall, it's a very cute and fun way for Cael to interact and socialize with kids his age, AND start to get into sports. Not to mention he gets to run around and get some energy out. I can't wait to see how next weekend goes.

"You're going to do what to my hair!?"

We had another "big" moment this weekend too. I've finally accepted that the hair on the back of Cael's head was just too long. It was no longer making a cute little whispy curl anymore, and whenever he laid on the back of his head, his hair would get frizzy and just didn't look good anymore. So I took him to the hair place, and finally got him a big boy haircut, and cut off all his long hair. I was ok with it. Cael, on the other hand, was hysterical the whole time! He had to sit on my lap because he kept reaching forward to try to get to me. And even when he sat on my lap, he continued to cry like the lady was torturing him. But in the end, his hair came out pretty good, even though she was trying to rush because of the crying. It was a little choppy above his ears, but it was (I believe) the best she could do with the high-pitched screams.

Before and after his "big-boy" haircut!

Little Man's First Haircut! And An Awesome Visitor!

Or rather, hair"trim". Yes, I had to cave. The hair was just hanging over his ears too much, and it was annoying Cael. He would keep pulling at it. So it was time to cut his hair. But who should I have cut it? Duh! Sadie, of course! I knew she'd be upset if I had anyone else give him his first haircut, so I put it off until we saw her again. Which just happened to be this weekend. :)

She came down to visit Saturday, and stayed until today, Sunday morning. It was so awesome seeing her for the weekend. We just vegged out Friday night after I got home from work, and then relaxed most of Saturday until the afternoon. However, she colored and cut my hair late Saturday morning, which was well overdue. We went to Central Park (unlike the one in NYC, this CP has TONS of stores) and went to Babies R' Us, and then went and ate a late lunch at Logan's Roadhouse. Yum! We came home, Matt went to the gym, and Sadie, Cael and I just hung out. We did my nails last night, and then she left early this morning. Definitely a full-on girls weekend, complete with hair and nails. I couldn't have asked for more.

You can see here how long his hair
 was over his ears, and on the top.

Saturday morning is also when she trimmed Cael's hair. We wanted to do it before his nap, so he was the least cranky. Now, there has been a huge debate among Matt, my mom, Matt's mom, Sadie and myself: To leave, or cut Cael's single curl on the back of his head. I wanted it left alone, along with my mom and Laureen. Matt and Sadie said it should come off. I knew once we cut it, he wouldn't get another. And I'm not quite ready to get rid of it yet. Yes, I have issues. Tell me something I don't already know. Hey, it took me a while to accept the fact that we traded in the infant seat for a 3-in-1 seat. Don't judge me! So when it came down to it, I won. However, now Matt claims that Cael has a mullet, but I assure you he doesn't. No child of mine will have a mullet. So Sadie trimmed around his ears, and took a little off the top, but not too much so that it wouldn't look like a mullet with the hair still long-ish in the back.

You can't tell here, but Cael was not happy. And, of course, I saved what I could in a baggie.

It's amazing that even cutting such a little amount of hair can change Cael's appearance. He does look older now. But I love that I can give him a faux-hawk  and it's not super long anymore. It looks really cute. And the curl is still intact. For now. :)

Cael's new hair-trim.
He was still recovering from the trauma of getting his hair done.

A much more cuter, yet neater faux-hawk :)
And no pointy peak of hair in the front.