will's first game of '08

Last night, we had Will's first official soccer game of the season. He said on the way home, "I'm one of the best players on my team." Humble, that boy. And I have to admit, that he did a really good job last night.

Will played against a team that included one of his favorite friends from school, Derby. Derby was careful to tell me before the game that she "wasn't going to play against Will, just the other kids on his team". At one point when it was clear that her team was killing Will's team, she implied that she would "throw" the game for Will since they were so far behind. Her parents and I strongly encouraged her otherwise. But how sweet is that? Throwing a game for your friend?

One of the things we noticed was that Will really has this whole keep your eye on the ball thing down. He's really growing as a player, getting in there and fighting for the ball, and, most important, gaining some good skills.

We are so grateful to our friend Scott who is his coach. Scott has a way of making learning skills really fun. One of Will's favorite drills at practice was "kick the coach", a game where they were supposed to work on aim by kicking their balls at their coaches. Jim filled in one week, not aware that "kick the coach" was on the agenda. He came home with a bit more of a workout than he had bargained for.

Here's when he caught sight of me snapping away on the sidelines during one of the breaks in the game. He turned around, smiled and posed. That won't keep happening forever, will it? So, despite the fact that I have about a dozen more un-posed photographs of the night that would be equally appropriate for this post and maybe even shots with better composition, I am posting this one. Because I won't get ones like this forever. He's getting bigger; but right now, he's still my little boy.