We started the day with a nice walk around the neighborhood; he had his bottle on a rocking chair by the front yard; and he played his first game of soccer, chasing the ball up and down the driveway on his walker. (I was thrilled!)

Soccer 101

The afternoon was not much different. He would not play with any of his toys, and he would only stop fussing once I brought him outside.  We played another round of soccer; we played “hide and seek” with a couple of small lizards; he had a great time crushing dry leaves; and he had another snack and bottle while rocking on the front yard’s rocking chair.

As you can imagine, Paolo always reach the perfect state of bliss after a good feeding.  We were just rocking and enjoying the sun and the bird songs, when all of a sudden a flock of 20-30 Tufted Titmouse landed in the American Holly right in front of us.  Paolo was fascinated by them.  What happened was that a Red-tailed Hawk was patrolling the area, and the flock of Titmouse landed on the Holly to get out of sight.  To our enjoyment, they were pinned down for quite a while. They were finally rescued after a group of crows harassed the hawk way.  Then, as fast as they landed, the whole flock flew away as a single bird.  It was quite special!

We ended the day with another walk around the neighborhood, followed by a nice bath, and lots of captial ZZZZZZZs.

Sunday was just as glorious, and we enjoyed a very similar routine — although we went to feed the ducks and geese at Memorial Park, instead of playing at the yard.  And did I mentioned we played another game of soccer in the afternoon? 

It was not as nice as being with Ashley and the kids at Disney, but Paolo and I  certainly can’t complain.

(More Flickr photos)

In a nutshell, we played the same YMCA team — this time at our field.  The match was a bit closer this time around, and Rylan, who was out-of-town this weekend, was greatly missed. He was key to organizing our defense and helping the younger players during our last match.  But everyone played extra hard, and I very glad to report that the Gladiators won another match:

Green 5 x 2 Blue.

Now, being the very proud father that I am, I must also say that Lorenzo has become “the engine” of the team. He’s immensely helpful during practices by showing the other kids how to execute the different drills; he has been playing well on all positions, including goal keeping; and he is once again the leading scorer for the U10 league. He scored all five goals on game #3, and his team and his family are very proud of him.

What can I say…he IS very good!