Basketball

Kaden's new favorite sport is basketball. His Grandma Rysdam gave him an over-the-door basketball hoop for Halloween, and he has become obsessed with it. The first thing he asks for when he wakes up is "Basketball hoop?!?" and it's usually the last thing he does before he goes to bed. It's also been an opportunity to see what Kaden will be like as an athlete. After he tries shooting for awhile (we have it in the family room so I can see him...otherwise he'd be stuck in his room all day!), he gets frustrated with himself if he's not making baskets frequently enough. He falls to the ground, buries his face in the carpeting, and says, "too hard." I'd like to know how 2 yr. olds learn this sequence. He wants to be successful- he wants to make every.single.shot. You're only 2 buddy, not an NBA player. We try to talk to him about how he doesn't have to make every shot, and you have to keep trying. Still, he keeps getting frustrated with himself. On the upside, when he makes a shot (which is about every 3rd shot or so... better than my record for sure) he screams with excitement and asks for a double high-five.

His love for basketball made him SO excited for last night's Calvin/Hope Alumni Basketball game. I was on the planning committee for our church, so I've been talking about it quite a bit. He could barely sleep for a nap, all he wanted to do was go to the basketball game. I think helping set up on Friday night was torture for him- he just wanted to play! He had a great time last night. He sat on the bleachers next to Andy for almost the whole game. Of course, he did have a hard time understanding why he couldn't go out there and shoot like all of the players. Needless to say, he thought it was cool and even tried to shoot during half time. This makes me excited to go to Calvin College basketball games with him this year. I got season tickets for the 3 of us for free since I'm a faculty member, and we're excited to go to quite a few men's games this year! Who knows... maybe Kaden will play for Calvin someday. We can hope, right? And I don't mean HOPE for Hope. I mean, hope for Calvin. The rivalry does continue.

He scores!!

Concentrating so hard on the ball

"Too hard!!!" (Sorry for the slanted photo... couldn't figure out how to change that!)

Shooting hoops

Making his plan

Go Calvin!!

Watching the game with Daddy

Enjoying a brownie treat at the game

Intent on the game. I love how he sticks out his tongue like that when he concentrates. Adorable.

Shooting during the half-time shoot-out