Cheer, Cheer

Just a few weekends ago, we got a call in the morning from a friend who offered three tickets to the ND vs. Western Michigan game that were all together. We decided to take Henry, even though we hadn't planned on taking him to a game for many, many more years (until he has the patience to sit through one since tickets are so expensive). But this was a pretty nice opportunity, so we decided to see how Henry would do. Our normal routine on football Saturdays is to have him nap early, then go see the band, and then come home and he does take a second nap late while we watch the game. He's flexible like that, luckily! So since he already had his nap, we knew we could last a little while.

We still got to see the band that afternoon, since that is what he loves the most. And then it was off to the stadium to see the Irish! And the band!
Henry called for "Defense!" and to "Stop em, Irish, Stop em!"
He also really liked the cheer where you wave your finger in a circle and say "ohhhh" for kick off. He pretty much did that throughout the whole game.

(I love this picture, by the way)

Henry noticed the other team's mascot since we were on that side, the horsey dancing. He still talks about it. Luckily he also still talks about the band, the leprechaun, and the big ND flag.

There were actually a few seats next to us empty, so Henry had a few feet to move around and stand, which made the whole experience a lot better I think. Nice for us that it wasn't a big opponent. With some snacks, drinks, cheers, and lots of action to watch, he really did wonderfully and enjoyed himself. We loved it too of course!
We made it through half an hour of band before the game, and the first quarter and half of the second. By then, we had one sleepy baby on our hand, as you can tell by the above picture (fingers and lovey). He wasn't fussy or anything, so I sort of wanted to stay through halftime so he could see the band again, but I felt like I was torturing him so we went home to take a second nap. Gabe stayed with our friend and got to enjoy a nice, comfortable, Irish victory. Go Irish!