The Child had her first basketball game yesterday. They did surprisingly well considering she only had one practice the night before. I called the YMCA on Tuesday afternoon to find out what was taking so long to get the teams together & practices going since the first game was scheduled for the 9th. The lady I spoke with was a bit confused too lol. After much research on her part, she found the team/Coach The Child was assigned to and discovered they'd had a practice the night before. Come again? So she gave me the Coach's phone number.

Once we got that straightened out, I then asked about what (and when) The Child's volleyball team would be receiving for their tournament championship win. The 3rd & 4th grade division got medals so I just assumed we'd get the same or maybe even trophies. Nope. They are getting t-shirts. I sort of laughed and then said, "You're kidding me, right?" Apparently she's not. She even sounded a bit miffed that I would be upset about it. I asked her, "Seriously, how many 1st place T-shirts have YOU won? And how many 1st place medals or trophies have you won?" Her reply, "Oh. Well, yes, I kinda see what you are saying." So anyway, the Y is supposed to contact us when the T-shirts are ready to be picked up. Hopefully they will use enough common sense to call us first to find out what SIZE shirt to order for the girls, since all 8 girls don't wear the same size. Here's to hoping ...

So anyway, once I hung up with the YMCA, I then called her basketball Coach. I explained who I was and the reason I was calling was to find out why we had not been contacted to attend the 1st practice session, the night before. His response? "I sent out a text message to all the parents on Sunday night to let them know that practice would be on Monday evening at 6:30." My reply went a little like this ... "Oh really now? That's funny because you only have my house phone number and like most any HOUSE phone, it does NOT receive text messages. Therefore I didn't get your text message." So then there was a moment of silence and then he says, "Oh. I did not realize that. (more silence) Hmmmm .... huh, well, maybe that's why only half the team was there for practice last night because there were a lot of girls who didn't show. Maybe the text message was sent to their house phone too. I just assumed everyone has cell phones. Guess I need to call everyone tonight to clear up the confusion then. Thanks for letting me know." Then he went on to explain when practices were and yada yada yada. Lord, save me from this YMCA and their volunteer Coaches.

So I had to miss her very first basketball practice. Which sucked for me. I hate missing any practice (karate, volleyball, etc) but since I am able to take her any other night but Fri, Sat & Sun, I'm okay with missing the one. But because it was the 1st one, ever, I hated missing it. I told Hubby to take lots of pictures for me. Ass took one. One friggin' picture. I could stress about it, but I won't. He did take the one, so I am grateful for that. And the only reason I want so many pictures is because I am so sleep deprived. I'm worried that when I want to remember it all later on in life, I won't be able to because of the lack of sleep lol. I at least was there for the 1st game and will be there for practice on Monday. It's not the end of the world that I missed one practice. That's my story and I am sticking to it!

I love watching my daughter grow and learn. I love the look she gets on her face when something finally "clicks" with her. I love teaching her! I love teaching her how to love herself, how to love others, how to love every moment of her life. Because I grew up in such a hate-filled, abusive environment, I am trying to teach my daughter how to love, how to respect, how to be anything but mean or hate-filled. So far, so good. And I was finally able to witness first hand yesterday just how successful I have been in my teachings ...

Girlfriend does NOT have an aggressive bone in her body. Which is good ... in life.

Not so good in a game of basketball.

Apparently I have failed her ... when it comes to a little one-on-one in a game of basketball. She will kindly stand there, with her hands up like someone is pointing a gun at her, moving her upper body side to side, in hopes that her opponent will attempt to throw the ball and she, my wonderful, naive, clueless-when-it-comes-to-basketball-daughter will be able to thwart the attempt. Hubby was getting so frustrated over that. He kept shouting at her to take the ball and to be aggressive. I finally had to tell him, "Just chill! She doesn't know how to be aggressive! We've never taught her to be that way and in karate she is always learning to never show aggression." Of course he was all, "I've taught her how to play the game. She knows!" So then I had to remind him that he had only taught her the basics ... like how to shoot the ball in the basket, how to dribble the ball, etc., not to be all up in the opponents face and trying to snatch the ball away from them lol. He said he would change that real quick. Gotta love men and their neanderthal way of thinking. Good luck with that Hubby. lol

Seriously though, I learned two things about my daughter yesterday.

1 - She can't dance or she can at least do a good imitation of Frankenstein dancing while trying to play a friendly game of basketball.

2 - Despite her lack of knowledge of basketball, her lack of practices playing basketball, her lack of aggression, she tried. She tried her little heart out. Too me, that is all that matters and I feel like I have succeeded in parenting her. The fact that despite her short comings, she still got out there, she still tried, that makes her a winner in my eyes!!

(The ONE picture Hubby took of her at practice)

Of course, she is in Heaven with Daddy taking her to practice on Friday nights. She is hoping he'll be made an honorary assistance coach like I was made for volleyball. See, I have no idea how to play basketball. Since I've never made it past the 5'1" mark in the height department, it was pointless for me to even try lol. Hubby played in high school and was on a few teams during his Air Force career. So he now has this with her like I had volleyball with her. She thinks it is so neat. I'm just glad they have something they can do together. He missed out on a lot the first 11 years of her life because of being deployed or working. Now he has the time to do all these things with her and she couldn't be happier. Me too.

Alright, I think I will end this and go crawl in bed. I have to work tonight and I am still trying to play catch up from the past couple of days. I worked Thursday night for Shelia so that she would work Saturday (last night) for me. On Fri I got off at 7 am, took her to school, came home and took a catnap till 9:30. I then went back to her school for her awards ceremony for making the A/B honor roll. Then I came home, slept 11:30 till 3:30, picked her up from school (thank God for after school band practice otherwise I would have gotten up an hour earlier lol) then came home, cooked dinner, was back in the bad at 5 and got up at 9 to get ready for work. Got off work at 7 am on Sat, catnapped till 10 and had her at the YMCA for her game at 10:45. Got home around noon, threw her sleeping bag in the dryer (I had washed it during the 1st catnap) & napped till 3:30. Double checked she had everything she needed for her sleep over at the local theater company with her Girl Scout troop and dropped her off at 4pm.

Hubby and I then went and rented movies - we were gonna go see one but couldn't decide which one so we figured it'd be cheaper anyway to just rent ones. We then went and had dinner at a local steak house since we had a buy one get one free coupon. After that we ran to Walmart to pay on The Child's Christmas layaway and then finally home. We watched 2 of the movies we rented and I finally made it to bed a little after midnight. I slept like the dead. But not near enough of what my body needs. I got up at 9 this morning to take a shower & get ready to pick The Child up. They put on a cheesy improv production for us and then we went to eat lunch. I've been doing a little odds and ends around the house since we got home & then decided to write this. Now I am ready to sleep for another 10 - 12 hours. Unfortunately I have to be up a 9 pm to get ready for work. Oh and I need to cook dinner before I lay down also. Hopefully I'll make it to my bed by 5 pm ...

Till next time ...