I won't start to worry until she is trying to put an apple on top of Rachel's head.

Laurel is now watching to the Olympic Opening Ceremony for the fifth time on DVR.  She loves watching the parade of the countries.  As each country enters on the track, she likes to say the country name, the number of athletes and what the flag bearer is going to participate in during the games.  There have been some countries that I could not pronounce (some that ended in -stan), some countries that I didn't know where they were.  And of course, we both giggled when we they announced "Djibouti".

She casually asked what sport she could play to join the Olympics.  I didn't want to burst her bubble but I did gently tell her that training for the Olympics took years of dedication.  This was not an after school activity that she could join with a small fee from Mom and Dad.  She looked at me quizzically when I said dedication.  I told her that it meant focus...she then understand completely.  But she didn't seemed fazed.  She calmly said that she wanted to do archery several years from now.  Seems random but she does archery twice a week at her summer camp.  I won't start to worry until she is trying to put an apple on top of Rachel's head.

I hope she remembers her interest of these games.  Currently, I love watching the Olympics, summer more than winter.  Swimming is my absolute favorite..during the last summer games I decided that I needed to swim at least three times a week at the Y.  I did but then a year later was pregnant with Rachel.  Swimming has been put on hold for a little bit.

The first games that I watched and remember are the 1984 games in Los Angeles.  I was 12 and I remember the athletes coming in with blue track suits.  My best memory was watching Maine native Joan Benoit win the marathon easily...her suit was taupe with a red piping.  Distant second was the memory of gymnast Mary Lou Retton.  She was from West Virginia...not from Maine.  She seemed cool as after the games she was endorsing Wheaties and some popular brand of hair mousse.  (Again, this was 1984, mousse was volume genius for hair)  The most disappointing and confusing was Mary Decker.  She was running a long distance race and tripped with Zola Budd.  Budd was favored to win and was in front when the tangle happened.  Needless to say, Decker fell, and Budd fell to the end of the pack.  Decker blamed Budd but technically it was ruled that it wasn't (Budd's fault).  Decker also waved Budd off as she tried to apologize.  At 12, I was kind of embarrassed that this woman represented my country.  (I got used to this type of embarrassment as I share the same citizenship as the Kardashians.)  The second most disappointing was the President Reagan only inviting gold medalists to the White House after the Games had come to a close.

Last night, during the first viewing, Laurel had so much Olympic joy...and a lot of questions.  The opening ceremony was a little too "Lord of the Rings' for me and Laurel kept asking me about the Industrial Revolution.  I really couldn't remember what I had learned several years ago.  I kept looking at Ching to help me out (I know he knew!) or get on Wikipedia.  I shifted focus on what the games mean..work, dedication, sportsmanship.

Today Laurel repeated the same goals of the game.  I was pleased that she remembered those today rather than "Djibouti".  Secretly, I kept thinking what I saw last night as they interviewed Gabby Douglas.  Is the scrunchie coming back?  (Hope so!)