Day 93- June 13, 2020

Day 93- June 13, 2020

We had a socially distanced play date today, the first one in about 100 days.  E's best friend A. and her older sister N. (who is the same age as R.)  have signed up to try out for soccer, and their mom and I talked about me going over there to work with the girls a little before the tryouts take place.  Since we are still being careful about social distancing (of course), we did some passing, foot skills, and then the girls just ran around the yard and played.  It was fantastic to chat with another mom, and talk about the "normal" mom things, like her adorable 5 month old daughter, getting back into the swing of things as stuff reopens, and what playing on a travel soccer team looks like in terms of commitment and money.

E. and R. were SO happy to see their friends.  I can't remember the last time I saw E. this happy.  She and A. were inseparable when we lived in the same town.  When we moved back to our house, E. was devastated that she had to leave her friends behind (especially her besties,  A. and O).

Kids need socialization, and it's definitely taken a toll on the girls that they haven't been able to have in-person meetings until now.  Yes, I completely agree with the social distancing, and I'm glad that we have curved the spread of this horrible virus.  I wouldn't exchange the lives of anyone for a playdate.  But there's definitely something to be said for the normalcy that comes from just having someone to laugh with and run around with that isn't your sibling.

We also got a visit at Sam's house from Jeff's parents, my awesome in-laws, who dropped by to see how the work was going, and to visit with the girls in the yard.   Jeff and I have been so busy between work (him) and school (me) that we feel like the girls aren't getting as much attention as they would like.  In step the grandparents- my mom and Bryan have spent a lot of time with them in the yard, and so have my in-laws.  Jeff was also proud to show off the changes that have happened at the house- it's a different place than what it was when we started, and I'm proud of him.

When it got closer to dinner time, we headed home, and the girls and I watched the series finale of The Kicks, an Amazon show that came out several years ago, and unfortunately was canceled after one season.  It follows a group of middle school soccer players whose team is called The Kicks, and a girl who has just moved to California and joined the team.  It's based on the books of the same name that were written by Alex Morgan of USWNT fame.  E. has been reading them with Jeff every night, and so watching the series is the icing on the cake.

That said- I wish there were more shows about girls playing sports.  It's something that millions of girls do, but there haven't been many television shows built around this.  Nickelodeon had one in the mid-2000's called Just For Kicks, which was also canceled after a season. It's a shame, because in both that show and in The Kicks, there are strong female protagonists of different cultural backgrounds all coming together to play a sport they love.  Liv and Maddie, which ran on Disney for four seasons, also centered on a sporty teen- a basketball player (and we watched every episode).  I'd love to have more of these types of shows to let me girls watch, but they are few and far between, and I suppose one of the issues is that the stars of them change so much from one season to the next that it's tough to keep them as believable middle schoolers for too long.