Homecoming

Friday night Gracie got to cheer in the first quarter of the homecoming game versus Walnut Hills High. The really little kids got to do the first quarter, the bigger little kids got to do the second quarter and the varsity (pictured above) go to do the second half. It was simply too cute for words because they would scatter the big girls among the little ones to help them out. The little ones thought this was just too too grand. It was interesting for us fans as well because you had two power house schools slugging it out on the field (Little Miami won) but you had close to a hundred cheerleaders lined up along the sides.

Gracie had been so looking forward to this because she got to be out there with the big girls. She had been practicing and showing off for weeks. Some of the kids her age were a little shocked just by the sheer volume of people. They are used to seeing 50 or 60 people in the stands at a little kids game, not thousands. They are used to being able to see and yell to their parents, not looking around and not being able to find them. Gracie handled this like a champ, no worries. She had been told we would be there and that was good enough, she knew we were there. This did create another issue however. Since one of us was not accessible to her, she just had to put her trust and faith in her coach of choice, just like when she is at practice and we are not allowed to be there.

What was the issue you might ask? Well, if you search your data banks for previous Gracie stories you will remember she hates costumes. She is deathly afraid of the bird at Red Robin, the pastor in his bunny suit at Easter, anything like this sends her over the edge. If you will now take another look at the Varsity Cheer Squad you will see the mascot of Little Miami is the Little Miami Panther. The Panther bounced playfully around the cheer squads trying to rally the fans and play with the cheerleaders. When I first saw the Panther I knew this was going to be an issue. When Gracie saw it, she first froze, then took off running as fast as she could and dove (literally) into her coaches lap. It was kind of like Scooby Doo getting scared and climbing up Shaggy. Coach Shannon now had a Hunan Siamese twin. Coach Tammy brought a spatula over and removed Grace from Shannon and they talked until they figured out what the problem was. By now the Panther had moved on and things were calming down. Grace let the know, in no uncertain terms, "costumes scare me, I hate them". They tried to tell her that its just a person inside, but having vast experience in this area, mom and I knew that would not help. Once the Panther had gone on its way, Gracie went back out and joined her squad for a while longer. Back comes the Panther, off goes Gracie. At least this time Coach Shannon was prepared and could catch the incoming Chinese missile. This episode repeated itself 4 more times. I was proud of Gracie in spite of this however. She is genuinely afraid of these things, but once it was moving away from her instead of towards her she would tough it out and get back out there with her squad. She showed some real maturity in wanting to do the right thing, and fought her fears as best as she could.