Help in the Middle

It's been a huge past seven days or so for the Kirk family. Lots of milestones and markers that we've celebrated:

*Davis had his first day of soccer practice last Thursday. He was pumped to get a new soccer ball, don the cleats, and wear the shin guards and play on the team with his buddy, Isaac.

Going to his first-ever soccer practice made me deeply nostalgic. I started playing soccer around four and kept at it through junior high school. As the kids used to say these days, soccer was my jam. It's fun to see him enjoying a sport that meant so much to me growing up.

*Sunday was Emma Kate's one-year-birthday! I have affectionately entitled the one-year-old birthday the "(s)he's still alive and we survived" birthday. We invited our friends over and their kids and Emma Kate dug into her first-ever cupcake. She was covered in red-ladybug icing by the end of it and we all had a blast.

Emma Kate has been a wonderful, hilarious, fun addition to our family, I'm so incredibly grateful to the Lord for her quick smile, her impish play, her sweet hugs and her good sleeping habits!

*And today was Davis' first day of Blue Dolphins, the 3-day a week pre-school that he'll be attending this fall. Last year he did a 2-day a week program and he loved it. This year he's in a class with a couple of his favorite buddies, and he's gonna' absolutely love it.

So all this celebration and hoopla over the past couple of days leaves one out: Zoe. Our little in-the-middle girl is a little too young for soccer or a pre-school class, but she's old enough to realize that she's being left out. And her birthday isn't until January. It's been a little hard to be in-the-middle Zoe the past week.

But this morning after dropping Davis off at pre-school, Kelly decided to see if there was a spot open for a Monday morning Little Gym class. Little Gym basically runs exercise and dance and flexibility and coordination classes for kids that are a whole lot of fun.

There was a spot, and she loved it. Kelly signed her up for the fall on the spot. "A class just for me, mom?" little Zoe squeaked excitedly.

Yes, Zoe, a little class, just for you.