Sam’s soccer season is coming to an end, so I thought it high time I pop on my telephoto lens and get some action shots. I paid enough for the thing, so I’d better. BEHOLD!
She’s really gotten much better in a short period of time. I hadn’t had a chance to take her to a game in a while, and I was surprised at how much more aggressive towards the ball she was being and how much more she was generally trying. She had also written “Winner!” on her palm prior to the game, presumably to help her remember to …win.
Mandy was also in attendance, and due to unusually warm weather she got hot in her fleece sweater and stripped down to her tank top undershirt. This showed her little belly, which she proudly displayed to everyone as she ran around in circles. So, in a sense, everyone wins.
I did have one spot of trouble earlier in the weekend when Sam was out in the area where several of our neighbors’ back yards merge into one common area. She was in the neighbor’s back yard playing with some friends, so I was keeping one eye on her while I made dinner. During one check-in I noticed that another neighbor was talking to Sam and her friends, and judging by the body language involved it was not a friendly chat. By the time I got out there the neighbor had already departed, but I managed to glare at Sam enough to get her to admit that they had been throwing rocks at the nice lady’s flower pots and had broken some.
Groaning, I marched Sam over to the lady’s front door and made her apologize in person. We decided that she would come back the next day (it was late) and help clean up the mess, which is exactly what we did. I also made Sam write a note of apology and give it to the neighbor. Sam seemed appropriately upset over her actions, and I took the opportunity to not only reiterate that destroying other people’s property was bad (I’m almost positive this point had come up in casual conversation before) but that sometimes she had to be brave and stand up to her friends when they were doing something wrong –or listen to them if they did so with her. All in all I think I handled it okay. We’ll just have to see if dead rats and pottery shards start showing up in our mailbox.