Allie wants to be in the Olympics - what child doesn't?

I love the Olympics! I love the Summer ones for the gymnastics and swimming and the Winter ones for the ice-skating. Am I a sports fanatic? No. But there is nothing more I love than reading the stories about the athletes and then getting caught up in their lives and routing for them during the Olympics.

I love it. I truly love the Olympics. I will watch them all day long every day - I will even watch the sports that I'm not really into (like watching Archery yesterday) and I will watch the sports that I don't even understand. I will also DVR everything that I miss. I will become attached to people and sports that I will probably never think about again until 2012 when I become immersed in their world and can't live without them once again.

I always route for the United States and chances are I will get teary every time I hear the National Anthem when someone from America wins the gold medal.

And the best part of the Olympics this year - Allie is just as excited about them as I am. While my hubby is happy to watch the Olympics with me, he doesn't get caught up in the drama as I do - but Missy Miss gets it!

Allie is loving watching the Olympics with me - she said her favorite team is America because that is where she lives. Last night our living room turned into a gymnasium as Allie tried to imitate anything she saw on tv. Our pool earlier in the day turned into a place where Allie raced against herself to see if she thought she was fast enough to be in the Olympics.

When we saw the two female gymnasts fall last night, Allie gasped right along with me. Although she didn't truly understand the significance of the fall - she doesn't realize that these girls have worked their whole lives for this moment and to fall is devastating to them.

Allie looked at these gymnasts as idols - commenting on their hair, their make up (she loved the sparkly eyes of one of the girls from China) and mostly their impressive skills. Her passion for watching these girls reminds me of when I was little and I was taking ice-skating lessons during Dorthy Hamill's days - I even had a Dorothy Hamill haircut! I wanted to be Dorothy Hamill! Who didn't then?

And while I never did get to be the next Dorothy Hamill, I got to dream about it. And while Allie most likely will not become the next star Olympic gymnast, she will get to dream about it and dreaming inspires trying and that is what living life is all about.

Besides, its nice to know that our tv has other channels other than Disney and Nick - I was getting concerned that the tv in our household only had Hannah Montanah, iCarly, Zack & Cody & H20 on it! Seriously, it will be nice to have something for Allie to aspire to be for a while other than Hannah Montana and Demi Lovato!