{And my mouth was open...}

Today was game 2 of the season.

E did great. I forgot the camera but he was more into the game and has discovered his "inner defender."

He played forward for about the first 5 minutes of the game and then a goal kick from the other team happened and he took the ball to the face. Literally to the face.

Their best kicker and strongest kicker kicked it with power full force into E's face. He landed flat backed on the field and was stunned until he grabbed his face and sat up when the coach ran onto the field.

He got a bloody nose (not unusual for him) but wasn't crying very hard (that too is unusual for him..he is the cry-er of our family right now so this seemed to be the perfect chance for him to go into full meltdown mode but he didn't). He was standing/sitting on my lap while I tried to stop the bleeding and he tells me...

"I couldn't get air and my mouth was open"

I explained getting the wind knocked out of you and while he was trying not to cry he told me must be what happened. Another dad came over and told him that that shot would have knocked us all out (that is how strong the kick was).

After a few minutes he was okay (no bleeding) and I made him go stand by his coach. A few minutes later he was back in the game as a fullback.

He loves defense and is great at it. We thought after his shot to the face he would be timid and not play very well but he did the best he ever has. He went right up to each player every time they ame down field and was taking balls away and he cleared it out a few times. While he was in the back they only shot on goal a handful of times.

He also took a good shot to the stomach in the second half, was pushed down and tripped over other fallen players at least twice. His coach wondered if E was the target today.

It was a great game though...and we won by 1.