Joseph's First Soccer Game

You know those moments when you just have to bite your tongue and use all control not to laugh or scream? Well our first forray into Joseph "playing" soccer was one of those times. Poor thing was sooooo nervous that he just didn't even know what to do. He had been talking about it all week and how excited he was to play and then once we got there he just kind of froze. He went in to play and just stood in the middle of the field (it is actually more like a court because he is playing indoor soccer) He refused to move. The ball came right to him and he watched it as it hit his foot and kept on going. He then walked over to the coach. The coach put someone else in and gave him time to just watch. When he went in the second time during the second half he at least moved in the general direction of the ball, but still would not run and got out of the way when the ball even began to come near him. We cheered him on and made a big deal out of how the ball was kicked at him and his body stopped (without any effort at trying ) the ball and then his team made a goal. We then let him go to Mickey D's for lunch to celebrate. If he would just realize how much more conspicuous he is just standing there and that he would really blend in if he would just run around a little bit. SIGH. You almost just had to laugh out loud watching him. Hopefully next week will be a little bit better. We have been trying to bribe him ever since the game ended with wonderful prizes if he will just participate. Though bribing seems so negative lets just call it positive parent reinforcements. (LOL)