Blake's Alter Ego

Yes, our little Blake was not himself today. I have to start by explaining that we were a little worried he was officially becoming a wuss. Like, for good. We haven't really known how to handle it. EVERY little eensy scratch or bite or nudge or fall or almost injury, he cries. Full tears. You can tell he's forcing it but he's successful with the tears every time. So we've been trying different techniques trying to diffuse this possible wuss situation. Telling him to blow it off. Explaining that if he cries 80 times a day we're not going to take it seriously when he really gets hurt. Almost ignoring it or changing the subject immediately. But every once in a while we feel guilty and indulge him a little more. But no techniques have helped. For some reason, he needs this attention.

FORTUNATELY, his wimpy syndrome disappears during a soccer game. We could call him Soccer Blake or, well, Little David Beckham. But when he's on the soccer field, our little, whiny, frail Blake is gone. First of all, he's just so aggressive. Always after the ball and in the mix. Always knew which way he was going towards the goal. Such focus that the 20 times he tripped and fell or got tripped up by the other team, he didn't even notice his minor surface injuries that send him into a tailspin at home. He just brushes off the grass or dirt and gets after it again. Here are a few pictures to illustrate...

Obviously, we were very proud and blown away by all the players on both teams. Everyone was into it. At half time, we may have found out they were TOO into it. As the whistle blew at half
time, Blake and a punk kid from the other team were both racing to get the ball that had just rolled out of bounds. Blake likes to be the one to give it to the ref and I guess this kid did too. Well, Blake got to it first and the other kid tackled him! Ashley yelled, "hey look, Blake's in a fight!" and across the field you could see Blake and this kid rolling around on the ground wrestling for the ball. If I wasn't pregnant, I promise I had time to get up and run over there and still get a picture but there was no way. They weren't swinging at each other or anything so we just let it happen. He really hung in there! After that, Blake was out for blood. The punk kid sat out the first part of the second half but when he was put back in, Blake yelled to his teammate, "oh great! they put the crazy kid in!" In this picture he's telling a friend what happened...

Anyway, as the game progressed, Blake totally stayed with it. More injuries followed. Here he is going after the ball as he falls and the wincing that followed (I guess he got hit in the head).

Then, luckily the ball was in play close to our side of the field because we heard Blake talking. The ball was about to be thrown in from the sideline and Blake stared the punk kid down and walked around him (the pic below is right before this happened) and said with a snarl, "I don't LIKE you!" (That's the punk in the picture.)
Then, punk kid starts pushing on one of Blake's teammates and Blake snarl grows to a growl almost and he's lunging for him...and I called him off! Derrek and Gayla (his mom) were so proud (okay, I was too); they were all about letting him go for it but the ball was about to be in play and it just came out of me for him to stop (fighting's not the answer, right?). So usually when I say something, he bows down immediately, and he did obey this time but it was with an "okay, I'll let him off the hook this time" kind of attitude. But the staring doesn't stop...Check this out...

Oh but the look in his eye. Seeing that fire was intoxicating almost!!! Here he is after the game, having a tough time shaking it off. I mean he's still snarling at the kid (in the right side of the picture...looks harmless enough, right?).

Don't worry, though. We're not at all advocating fighting or aggression as a solution for Blake to ever use but it was so nice to know that when he was mistreated, he didn't just bow down and take it. He stood his ground. And he wanted something that was temporarily more important than a little scratch here or there. He wanted to win!!!

And our sweet, fragile, little Blake returned as soon as we got home. He tripped in his room and came running with full tears. No evidence of a fall except for those big crocodile tears. Soccer Blake is gone until next Saturday but today will go down in history in this household.