When Princess Kickapoo (8) was born, Jethro was cuddling with her next to the deliveray bed and called her his little princess. I grabbed him by the collar, pulled his tired, bleary-eyed, stubbled but starstruck face close to my 24 hours of labor and 18 of those sans an epidural face and said through gritted teeth, "You can call her 'baby' or 'sweetheart' or 'darling' or 'love' or anything else you want, but don't you ever, EVER call her 'princess!' "
You see, I was not your typical girlie-girl... I wasn't exactly a tomboy, but in no way shape or form was I what someone would call a 'princess.' Do princesses hit rocks while riding their skateboards (in a dress!) and slide across broken glass causing gashes to their tummies requiring 4 stitiches? No. Do princesses learn to ride trick bikes? No. Do princesses play RUGBY in college? Again, No.
I was adament- I would raise no princesses! My daughters would like to play with bugs (even if I get a little freaked out by them), my daughters would make mud pies and play "real" sports, like basketball or cross-country or swimming.. not dance team (which okay, I admit, I did in HS) or heaven-forbid, CHEERLEADING!! That is the epitome of princess-ness.
God let me know very early on that He's in charge AND He has a sense of humor! I remember that fateful day, when she was turning 4 years old and some forward thinking adult asked her, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" She replied, and this is a quote.. "A Queen, because I'm already a princess!" The next 4 years brought out the full Princess in my little girl as she was Cinderella every year for Halloween and every birthday party was a variation of a Princess party!
So, here we are 8 years later and while I buy both her and Drama Queen (5 year old) princess dolls and princess books and princess toys and even sew them beautiful, elaborate, hand-beaded princess dress-up dresses and paint pictures of them as princesses to decorate their PINK room, I still think I have some sort of say when it comes to Cheerleading! Drama Queen is petite and a monkey.. She's been in gymnastics since the week after her 3rd birthday and the eldest has tried a few things.. She loved dance, but outgrew it, she's tried softball and basketball (too agressive ... she gets the ball and hands it to that poor little sad sack who is not athletic but whose parents are forcing them to attend camp and says, "Here you go! You haven't had the ball yet."
Then about a year and a half ago two things happened. First was High School Musical ... need I elaborate? Next was a Family Health Night at school where cheerleaders from the local HS showed up IN UNIFORM and played with the kids showing them how to move around when they play and keep active. How's a Mom supposed to compete against that???? Since last summer, she's been begging to do cheerleading.. Finally, there was a 4 hour clinic, taught by the local HS cheerleaders at the local HS. She asked to go and I thought, "Here it is.. My chance!! I get to be the good guy and let her go 'do cheerleading' but it's only one time... one day... just four measley hours... then what else can I do? " I even let Drama Queen go. They had a blast and when it was time to pick them up, my shy little girl got up on that stage and cheered her heart out. She was so excited... it was all she could talk about.. and to make things worse, Drama Queen now decided she wanted to cheer too!
Broken and defeated, I took Princess Kickapoo to the local Tumbling Acadmey. She tried out a tumbling class and was so enamoured that she jumped, hopped and skipped back to the car!! "I love it , it was so fun!! I can't wait till I get to go again!! May I go twice a week instead of once only? " The very next day, that poor little girl fell off the playscape in the backyard and broke both bones in her left arm.. not fractured, but broke!! clean breaks! In her ever optimistic way, she commented that while she wouldn't be able to do tumbling for a while, "At least it is my left arm and I can still write!"
Eight weeks later, off came the cast, 2 weeks later, into tumbling she went. "This isn't so bad" I think.. she loves tumbling and this is good healthy fun.. and it will serve her well for VOLLEYBALL to be so limber and agile." While I sit each week and watch her learn to tumble, I listen to the other parents around me.. There actually is competitive cheer for little girls!? WHAT!?!? I thought it didn't start till junior high!!! Nope! now.. as soon as they can do back and springs (very difficult) they can begin competiting.. Of couse, it'll cost you $6000 per year to do it (I'm not making this up!! They even require that you set up an automatic direct electronic debit to them for 9 months in case you decide to quit during the season.. you'll still be financially responsible!)
Then came time to register Laughing Son (6) for football... He's been talking about football for months.. he can't wait to play football!!! he's so excited to play football!! we talk about the commitment, cuz he sort of waffled back and forth in baseball... As long as he was hitting (the ball to the back fence almost every time) he was good.. but come time to field and he wouldn't pay attention.. he would hustle only about 1/2 the time.. it was frustrating for us as parents to watch because we knew his capabilities (especially Jethro who was also his head coach!!). We explained the financial commitment (and how he would pay us back even if it took till he was out of college!! ) and the time commitment (just think TEXAS & FOOTBALL and 3 nights a week for a 6 year old shouldn't surprise you!!! I was told by a friend once, non-Texan native, AU grad... "I've seen high school stadiums in Texas bigger than college stadiums in Florida and Georgia!!") as well as the physical commitment.. he would be conditioning... running a lot!! and in big old heavy pads and a helmet and it would be hot!!! He was in!!
I have to be honest, here. If I have to spend the rest of his childhood watching him play sports, I much prefer football to baseball. However, DAD, who will be his COACH for anything and everything (except football ) following in the footsteps of HIS dad who coached every sport for all 3 of his sons, well, DAD likes baseball better. So, he was a bit disappointed that Laughing Son was so excited about football. However, we talked and we agreed to the commitment ourselves (that means one of us will have to take him to practice 3 nights a week for 2 hours per night). I went to sign him up and lo and behold ... there was sign up for Cheerleading as well.
hmmmm.... both of my girls want to cheer and the practice will be at the same time as football, so why not?!? I sign 'em both up! They were THRILLED!! I also signed myself up for coach! I know, I know... You're scratching your head and scrolling back up to confirm that I am in fact the same one who so vehemently hated cheerleading. Well, the thing is this... Princess Kickapoo's "love language" (read the book 5 Love Languages) is quality time and now that she's 8 and in third grade she's getting more and more independant.. AND Jethro is always coach which means I can't coach since we still have a little one to chase after... Since he had no inclination to coach football, HE could hang out with the little one! I would have to be at practice every night ANYWAY!!! So, why in the world not???
Ah, yes.. one small detail.. I don't know anything about cheerleading!! I don't know any cheers, I don't know any jumps, I don't even know "candlesticks" "blades" and "donut holes." I ask the ones in charge about this.. "Don't worry about that! The girls will be taught by a HS cheerleader and you will simply be 'the adult presence.'" YEAH RIGHT!! My HS'er had to quit after 2 weeks cuz she got her driver's license and had to get a job to pay for her own insurance!! Now What!?!?
Can you say, YOUTUBE? (that's YouTube.com for you uninformed old folks!) Anyone and Everyone can post absolutely anything in video form on youtube and that includes Cheerleading!! So, the past few weekends have been spent watching cheer stuff on youtube and learning motions and chants and cheers!!
The organization we're involved with is Pop Warner and they're hosting a city wide competition in October... The Oldest Squad will be competing (they're 9, 10, and 11 year olds) and my squad - the Mitey Mites and Drama Queen's squad - the Tiny Mites will be doing exhibitions only. The last week and a half, I've been splicing together songs from HS Musical and putting together 2 dance segments and 2 cheer segments for our exhibition... Somewhere in the middle of all that, I was watching Princess Kickapoo dancing/cheering around the house.. that is all both of the girls do anymore.. cheer and dance and sing their chants!!! So much so that even Jethro has all of their cheers and chants in his head and HE sings them to the girls all the time!! it is a riot! But I digress... I found myself, dare I say it?! If I write it here and then hit "post" it will be out there for all time.. once on the internet, it can never be taken off of the internet!!! Be brave, Tess, be brave.. you can do it... I found myself, HAVING FUN AT CHEERLEADING!!!! What's that old expression, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!"
Now I'm all excited about our squad's performance... we have even held an extra practice.. we'll probably be doing it again, too!! Just to be sure we're ready!! I even invited all the girls on my squad over for a sleep over!! They stayed up late and watched... 3 guesses and the first two don't count... HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL!! The next morning, they all dressed up and then put on a play... HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL!! We went out for do-nuts and instead of singing for their supper I had them cheer for their breakfast. They loved it..and everyone inside clapped as they entered the Shipley's. What fun... If only my friends from HS could see me now! ha ha...
Submission to God would be the lesson of the day.. I went from not caring too much for princesses and cheerleaders to being the spirited-staying-up-all-night to coreograph my cheerleading daughter's squads exhibition cheer (I mean, we don't even get points for Pete's sake!!) and having fun all the way. What an awesome God we serve.. If it weren't for Him, I'd eitherbe miserable right now, hating cheer, but doing it for my daughter OR not even allowing my daughters to do cheer and thereby missing out on all the fun they're having!!
Not to leave out Laughing Son and his progress... He is having the time of his life.. he tackles he runs he blocks... he started out having to prove himself.. it was his first year (he's on the Tiny Mite team.. 5, 6, and 7 year olds.. and some of these boys are in their third year of playing), so he had to prove himself... for the first 2 weeks, Pop Warner requires 20 hours of conditioning ... that is 2 hours a night, 5 nights a week for 2 weeks and that is all running, sit-ups and push-ups, running, jumping jacks, agility tracks, and a little more running!!! Although he is only 6, he evidentally is quite the runner! When the team (28 players) run laps, if they run 3 laps, he finishes around 4th or 5th and with 4 laps, he ends up about 6th. But if they are running only 2 laps, he is in the top 3 and has even finished first. You should see him at the end of practice... I need to get a picture.. he takes off his helmet and all these big ole honkin' shoulder pads and he's drenced to the core and his hair is so wet you can actually wring sweat out of it and he has this enormous smile -ear to ear- on his face!! He LOVES football (except for laps)... If you ask him if he likes football, he'll reply (EVERY time), "Yes, except laps!"
He works pretty hard at practice and then we had our first game and we were pretty disappointed to see him play for just a few minutes.. See, our little Laughing Son is pretty naturally gifted athletically.. good genes!! and he's really passionate about football and so we were saddened by his small amount of playing time.. Not to worry for long, though... during the next 2 weeks of practice (1 game canx'd due to Ike) he really showed his coaches what he has and at game number 2- He Started!!! He's on the line.. His job is to block the other team's guy from breaking through and tackling the quarterback (who, I might say, must be one of those kids who's been playing for 3 years cuz he's good and fast!!)... So, last week, the play started around the middle and Laughing Son is good... He starts pushing against his guy and holding him back.. the quarterback ends up keeping the ball and running it all the way down the field for a touchdown and as the camera pans back to Laughing Son, he is STILL holding his guy!! He's relentless!! And if he happens to see us, He's all smiles!! I'm so happy for him that he's found something that he is so excited about!!
I'm putting up just a couple of pictures, but I have uploaded them to site. If you'd like to thumb through more pictures, just email me and I'll give you the info you'll need.
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