SCORE!

This afternoon, during the final soccer game of the winter indoor season, and after two years playing soccer, Noah scored his first goal.

His buddy and teammate Logan passed the ball to Noah who was standing in front of the goal and Noah simply kicked it in. I screamed and clapped. Noah looked up at me and I gave him a huge smile and two thumbs up from across the court. For a small moment I saw excitement but then he reeled it back in, crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked away from me as if to say, "Eh.. it's all in a day's work."

That's Noah- embarrassed when people are paying attention to him.

When the game was over, he ran to the sideline where I was standing with my hand in the air to high-five him. He smacked my hand, raised one eyebrow and half rolled his eyes while saying (as if he were an 80-year-old man outside the general store commenting on the weather), "Yeah, I just decided enough of this nonsense, this is the last game and I am scoring a goal no matter what."

And that was that. The game was over and Noah had scored his first goal. His mother was ecstatic. His coach was congratulatory, our neighbors were happy for him and he was totally unmoved by the whole thing.

Later, though, he began to feel comfortable with his accomplishment and by the time we got home, I was instructed to call all of the grandparental figures in Texas so that he could tell them of his feat.

Congratulations, my boy- my sweet, tiny old man.

Even if I am embarrassing you.