I Can Do This!

Tonight was hard. 

Izaac and me both, have been waiting for this night for a while too. It was his very first night of basketball. And man! Were we excited!

Jimmy had some work to do at home so I got to take Izaac and leave the other two kiddos at home. This turned out to be a saving grace. (Always look for the positive right?!)

Well, it was all fun and smiles until the coach passed out the basketballs. 

Turns out that not only couldn't our Izaac dribble, but that most of the other boys on his team, could.

So he definitely stood out. As well... the worst. 

And it was very hard for Iz. 

You could tell he was just so embarrassed and frustrated at the same time. I'll never forget that first look he gave me before he just burst into tears. 

This look of, "How come I can't do this, and they all can?"

And then the tears rushed in.

Well... I had to think fast and part of me wanted to be like okay son, let's go. Clearly, you're not ready for this yet. But luckily, the smarter part of me told me to get up and help him. 

It was really hard for the coach to focus on Izaac when he had 10 other kids. I mean, Izaac was super upset.

So I did. I got up and told my sensitive side to get lost. I told Izaac he could do this and not to give up. And I ended up staying on the court for the entire practice. Two times I tried to go back and sit and both times he ended up in tears again. I'm sure some of the parents thought we most certainly didn't belong. 

BUT I am so glad that we stuck it out. It was truly a learning moment for both of us

Because... after practice and after we had gotten into the car, we talked about our choices. Izaac could either continue and practice and get better. Or he could quit.

I told him I thought he should stick it out and that he could be awesome if he just practiced a little bit more. I told him that we don't always get to start out at being great at some things. BUT that we can become great at them if we work on it. 

I then told him that if he wanted to continue, I would go to Walmart that very second and he could pick out a ball, and then he could practice dribbling all week.

He liked this idea. And so to the store we went. He picked out a white and green ball and I may have let him pick out a candy too =)

It was kind of perfect timing when we walked in because Jimmy had the NBA finals on. I don't know if there could have been better motivation than for Izaac to watch these guys dunk when he was feeling how he was. 

He instantly ripped his ball out of the case and started dribbling.

**FAST FORWARD**

Izaac hasn't stopped dribbling lol

One week later and Izaac is 100 times better than he was last week. In fact, I would say he's actually even one of the better dribblers on his whole team now. And it only took ONE week! Though... I don't think the ball ever stopped bouncing lol 

(no tears at practice either... it was like mom who?!)

Anyways, he is so excited about basketball again and so so so proud of himself! And so am I! 

I love so much that he got to experience this last week. How he was able to see first hand how we can do hard things. How he got to see how practice and drive truly changes what we can do. It has been so uplifting.  And it's so incredible to witness him learn and appreciate such a valuable lesson. Honestly, I think this lesson learned will stick with him for quite some time and....

I have a feeling basketball isn't going anywhere around here with our two boys.

This makes me happy.

I'm so proud of you Izaac! 

Go get em!