spirit fingers

We took the girls to a Bombers football game two weeks ago. The cheerleaders were handing out flyers for a cheer camp--the younger Turner girls were all over it. I asked Grace if she wanted to go and I got the non-committal, almost-teen shrug, scrunched nose and "sure," which I interpreted as "only if you make me." So, it was up to Auddie & Nina to leave the Turner imprint on the cheer squad.


We brought along Audrey's friend, Faith, and at first the three girls stood off to the side of the 75+ group of girls. Ages ranged from pre-k to 5th grade. Our girls were among the smallest. Audrey didn't get to use her hands for at least half an hour because Nina had a death grip on one of them.

As soon as the cheerleaders put the kids in small groups, that's when the Turners really started to shine. And by shine I mean become their usual high-maintenance selves, mixed with a little bit of cheer.

In the first 45 minutes, Nina took 5 water and 3 bathroom breaks. Pretty normal day for us, but a bit shocking to the cheerleaders, I'm sure. And thank goodness the camp was 4 hours long because it took Audrey and Faith about 2 hours to really warm up to things.

During the two hour warmup, amidst Nina's "breaks," Audrey came over to tell me that a scratch on her face she got days ago from Fredo "really, really itches and it's just driving me crazy!" Suck it up, friend, you're a cheerleader for a day. The Faith had something bugging her in a part of her shoe. Fixed that. Then Audrey's tummy hurt. "I mean, I had a juice and two cookies at snack, but my tummy is growling...I'm starving!" Again, suck it up.

Now you're probably wondering what the girls were actually learning during this time. They observed a lot of "spirit fingers" -- "a valuable tool," said Michael. They learned a cheer about how hot their team was, and they learned to shake their booty. For those of you who already know my girls, all of these things were right up their alley.
Here's the thing: THEY STOOD THERE DOING NOTHING WHEN THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING SOMETHING WITH THEIR GROUP. They were mesmerized, I guess.

As I walked Nina to one of her bathroom breaks, I asked what her favorite part was so far... "Well, that boy lifted that girl with the sharp teeth." I did not ask follow-up questions.

So our cheer camp ended with a bang. Nina marched herself up with the cheer squad when they were being introduced by their coach. She was so small amongst them that I don't think anyone really noticed. Then during the performance for the parents, Audrey demonstrated that she's really only ever one beat behind everyone else -- not three beats, as I previously thought.

Enjoy the mini videos.