gaining confidence

my sweet little brooklynn has always struggled with confidence. when she is home she is the most outgoing hilarious little girl but as soon as we leave the house she gets nervous and anxious. this is something she's struggled with since we was a baby. she has always just clung onto me and doesn't do well with new people. people always stop me at the store or wherever we are and will compliment her big blue eyes and often times she will turn away from them and give what looks like a really dirty look. i often find myself apologizing for her when really they are the stranger that came up to a child and she should have to engage in a conversation with a random stranger. 

anyway, i have been trying to help boost her confidence and help her get more involved. she has a hard time starting something new but i know that once she gets started she will have so much fun she just has to try. today was a perfect example. i enrolled her in soccer and today was her first practice. she was all pumped until we showed up and she was crawling back into her little shell. we walked up and she just looked so unhappy and didn't want to be there. here are a few photos i took of her at the very beginning of practice..

then about five or ten minutes into the practice she started to realize how much fun playing soccer really was and her whole demeanor change and she was smiling and running around and making friends and just really getting into it and my heart was just so happy for her! i had a little talk with her after explaining to her that even though trying new things can be scary sometimes it's worth it to put ourselves out there because we can have a lot of fun if we do! 

her first game is on saturday and i am so excited to watch her play in a real game. she's played T ball before but soccer is a much more aggressive sport so this will be interesting! here are some photos of her once she got into the practice and started having some fun!