Pom Poms and Touchdowns and Baskets, Oh My!

I don't know if blood is thicker than the water in the Monongahela, but I will admit that culture won out over bloodlines for a while. Despite the fact that she is part Hoosier and the fact that she is part AWESOME, Alexis was not born with a basketball attached to her hand.

I KNOW.

It's so wrong.

But! She was born in Pittsburgh and Pittsburghers only very barely even know what basketball is. The fact that she was born just before the Steelers appeared in the Superbowl confounded the sport loyalties confusion. It took longer than it should have, but the ship has been righted and Alexis has recently been learning all about hoops.

Finally.

She started playing in a completely informal and just-for-fun basketball league a few weeks ago. As expected, she loves it.

(She doesn't have a choice, so it's good that her choice is to love it. Ahem.) (I'm kidding about that "no choice" thing. Mostly.) (Sort of.)

Of course, Alexis is so very ... Alexis, so she takes every bit of her girlie, sparkly, spunky self to practice. She fusses with her hair and worries that it doesn't look right. She wants her nails painted to match her basketball t-shirt. She spends part of the practice trying to tie a cute little knot in the bottom of her shirt.

We won't even talk about how she spent part of her most recent basketball practice doing ballet steps on the sidelines. She did. We just won't be talking about it.

We don't always make the child do what we want her to do, so right alongside all of these basketball practices has been a little something else. It's a little something else that you wouldn't EVER catch me encouraging, but ... meh. If she likes it, so be it.

Cheerleading.

Like, on purpose, like.

Cheerleading practice is every bit as horrible as I expected it to be, but it's OK because Alexis LOVES it. As I tweeted after the first practice, "The groundhog is grinning so I guess that means six more weeks of cheerleading practice." I meant it. I don't enjoy the whole thing, but if she does, great. More power to her. I like that she's her own person, so as long as there is a little balance in her life, it's all good.

And, HOOBOY, is there balance.

Basketball. Cheer. Basketball. Cheer. Back and forth and round and round. She spends hours dribbling a ball in the basement and she spends hours practicing a cheer routine. Over and over and over and over. Back and forth. Round and round.

This evening I decided to ask Alexis to talk about cheer and basketball a little bit. I wanted to make sure she's not getting burned out or anything. I needn't worry, though, because she happily went on and on about how much she loves them both.

Balance. Balance is good.

But then she said it. The Thing.

"Momma, I like cheerleading better than basketball," she said.

I tried to control my horror as I listened to Alexis go on. "Cheerleading is WAY easier than basketball. That's why it's better."

She might have a point there. Maybe.

"Well, that," she continued, "and cheerleading has WAY cuter clothes than basketball."

I am so screwed.

Comments

[Gina]

I know it's wrong, but I take great pleasure from this, given the past several years of you mocking ME for the same thing. I can't wait until the next time the girls get together - they can CHEER. HAHA!

[Kat]

Sounds like a very well rounded, smart little girl. I played basketball and did cheerleading too. I love that she does both. :)

[The Mommy]

HAHAHAHA! THAT was perfect! Great post!

[hello haha narf]

sigh

[Jenna]

Oh, I laughed. Doomed.