2014 Tire Pictures....

They just keep getting bigger! :)

Ben 2014

Ben 2013

Simon 2014

Simon 2013

Jonathan 2014

Jonathan 2013

All the boys 2014

All the boys 2013

Beach 2014....

At the beach this week....

I think there is no place my kids are happier and more content than when they are on the beach....

Ribbons!

Friday was Fun Friday/Ribbon Day at swim practice.

I prepped Simon for potentially not getting any because I was pretty sure he disqualified every race he swam. He was okay with that because some of the older girl swimmers had walked around and passed out bright yellow participation ribbons to the youngest swimmers at the meet on Wednesday night. (thank goodness.... I had been under the impression the little ones got ribbons just for swimming in the meets, but as it turns out, it's inconsistent and based on how much time the director's mom has to write them all up... )

At any rate, he got an 8th place and a 9th place ribbon (both dead last place, but he didn't care because... ribbons!) and one for swimming but DQ'ing. He was thrilled. WHEW.

Interestingly, getting the ribbons seems to have lit a fire under him because now he's practicing a little here and there in his free pool time like Ben does. He even has started trying to do a rudimentary butterfly stroke, which is pretty amazing considering he struggles with coordinating the arms and legs for regular old freestyle. LOL.  I shouldn't write him off as not being a swimmer just yet, it seems.  I mean, Ben couldn't even swim at ALL when he was 7!

Ben came away with a couples thirds and fourths. All were last place in his heat except one of the thirds for butterfly. He says he was really nervous.... but now with two meets under his belt, his confidence is back and he has now made it his mission to be the "butterfly master".

He is shooting for at least second in the next meet.... we'll see. The other pools put up some pretty tough competition. In the last meet, the first place 9/10 boy in butterfly went about five feet with every swing of his arms. The other three swimmers, Ben included, were pretty much in a dead heat, but this one kid was ridiculous. Ben doesn't have size on his side, but he is naturally pretty fast and lots of practice will build up his upper body strength and endurance so he can probably contend. We'll see... there are six more meets left to try!

Exciting stuff! ;)  Love watching them get excited about every new achievement!

THe End is In Sight...

At only two months shy of age four, Jonathan is my world's latest potty trainee.

BUT, I am very happy to say after a very slow process and months upon months of him wearing underwear and me having to be the one to make sure he is taken to the bathroom so he doesn't have an accident, he is now telling us when he needs to go! He shocked the heck out of me at the pool two days ago when he started telling me he needed to go even when wearing a wet swim diaper!

Now, if we could just get him to master #2, we will be a completely diaper-free house for the first time in a decade. HOORAY!

Amelia Bedelia Moment....

I forgot to mention the Amelia Bedelia moment I had with Jonathan the other night at the pool. 

On the way back from the snack bar at one point he asked me, "But where is the meat?", "When will they bring the meat?"

"Meat?"

"The swim meat!"

Dear Swim Coach....

Dear Swim Team Coach,

I love that you don't run the swim team like the tiny, perpetually losing, mostly-just-for-fun country club swim team that it is. It's why we keep coming back. You took my fearful, anxious son and turned him into a swimmer and gave him the gift of a sport that, with the right encouragement, he just might do for the rest of his life.

However, it has been a full year since he last swam in a meet. So when he showed up yesterday for the first meet of the season, a mess of tears and anxiety, and I brought him to your office, I had really hoped you would give him a little more than just a dismissive, "You won't die." I just wanted you to listen to him for a minute. Give him a pep talk. I'm a little disappointed in you.

I know you were busy getting things set up for the swim meet, and I know you don't pander to crying kids...  it's part of what made this all work for B last year.  He needs to be pushed and he needs people to not play into his tears and his fears. I love that you made him swim butterfly last year as a new swimmer and didn't let him back out. I love that when he said he didn't want to to relays, you said "Oh well. You're doing relays!"

But what he really needed yesterday was to be reminded by someone whose opinion means something (a.k.a. not mom and dad) that he could DO this. That he already DID do this. That you needed him to get it together and play his part on the team because he's important.  It would have taken you all of two minutes and would have made a world of difference.

I keep reminding myself that you are only 27 years old... that don't have your own kids and definitely don't at ALL understand kids like mine. I just wish I could make you understand just how much it has taken to get him where he is now....  how much he overcame just to get in that water last year, much less race. To you, I know he looks like a kid who needs to "man up" and be less crybaby about the whole thing. You see he's a good swimmer with a ton of potential and you don't get why he'd have so much anxiety about it. Nope. You don't get it at all.

I'm not going to waste my time trying to make you get it either.  That in itself will be a life lesson for B. Not everyone he encounters in life will understand where he is coming from or the battles he fights with his own mind.

You are a good coach, I just wish you would take a little time to get in the heads of some of the kids more. It's not just B, they all could use a little more individual attention and encouragement.  These aren't your college swimmers. Just a few well-timed encouraging words here and there could make the difference whether or not they stick with this sport you love so much.

Sincerely,
The Mom With the Crying 10-year-old

First Meet!

The first swim meet of the season was last night. Somehow, I had forgotten what complete and total insanity those are. I got the boys there an hour early for a couple reasons -- 1) I thought it would give us all some free time to swim before they closed the pool for warmups.  2) It's important, especially with having Jonathan with us, to stake out a couple of chairs and a table in the fenced in baby pool section. He doesn't usually play in the baby pool, but it makes the whole evening more manageable to have this home base.

So we went early.... except that no one swam. Ben had a full-on anxiety attack, crying and talking about how he didn't want to swim. Simon splashed in the baby pool with Jonathan and asked approximately every five minutes if the bake table was open yet. (it opens when the meet starts... at 6.... it was 4.....)  Jonathan kept asking for water guns that I hadn't brought.

Eventually, I was able to pawn anxious Ben off on the coaches for warmups.

Btw, his swim coach is really great.... coaches college swimming and takes it very seriously. It's part of why we stuck with this program. He doesn't treat it like a country club swim team, he treats it like it's the real deal. But MAN, that guy has absolutely NO idea what to do with an anxious kid. He's nice and all and I really like the tough coach thing to an extent.... but it would have been nice for him to take Ben aside for like five seconds and give him a pep talk. "Hey, remember where you started last year? Remember how far you came? You're a big part of the team! You're fast! Your butterfly looks great! Get it together!" I can say all that until I'm blue in the face, but if it came from the coach, I know it would mean more.  Anyway, whatever....

Simon went off to warm up too and I just had Jonathan to worry about...I got him some food and he came with me to put my salad together at the bake table. Then I remembered I had signed up for ribbon writing for the first half, so I went to go find out about that. I thought it was something I could do with Jonathan in tow.... I was crazy wrong. That job is no joke. THank GOODNESS Tom showed up in time because the next hour or so was blur once the meet started. The results papers start coming in and I cranked about about 6,000 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place ribbons. SHEESH.

Ben was up first in boys 9-10 freestyle. He was still off his game. He was hanging with the pack and vying for second place almost the whole way and then he got to the turn and hesitated. This drives me insane. He does it ALL the time in meets even though he knows better.  He also briefly looked like he forgot how to swim and he grabbed the lane line. I thought this was an automatic DQ, but turns out, they can grab the line, just not touch the bottom or pull themselves forward. Anyway, he came in fourth.... and I believe it was out of four. LOL.

Simon was up next with the 7-8s. He DQed about 3/4 of the way down for touching the bottom. I was so proud of him though! He  jumped right in there and swam his little heart out. I'm not sure he understood the concept of racing, but whatever. He did it. ;)

After that, we had a break until event 40. Somewhere in there, Tom took Jonathan home for bed. Again, I don't know how, but somehow I forgot how long and dragged out these things are.

Simon was up again for backstroke. This was amusing because he can't actually DO backstroke yet. With backstroke, you start IN the pool, but he missed that direction and was setting up for a regular racing start. I had to yell "Simon! Turn around and get in the pool! BACKSTROKE!!" LOL. Completely unfazed, he got in. And they were off... he was a distant last, but he did great. He backstroked about halfway than just laid on his back and kicked. Finished about a full minute after everyone else but he was so cute. ;)  I am just SO impressed that he just gets in and tries with no freak outs. He wants ribbons SO badly, but from what I learned last night, he may not actually get any when they give them out on Friday. He has to place and not DQ. They said sometimes they will write up "I swam!" ribbons for the 8Us, but not always. ARGH. C'mon....  seriously? I'm not a participation trophy fan, but these little ones are so brave to swim in a meet at all, much less their first one ever. So I hope they write some up even just this once.

Lastly, Ben had his dreaded 25 Fly.  Though he came in four out of four on this one too, it was pretty close among the four swimmers though. He swam WAY better than his first event and his confidence was coming back  -- anxiety was mostly gone at that point.  He swam it HARD and didn't give up.   Butterfly is his least favorite stroke (I don't blame him, it really is SO hard!!!), but the coach puts him in it because, even though he needs to up his endurance, he has good technique. Everyone can do freestyle and there are tons of other kids who can do back and breast but not as many who can do butterfly. This fact does not help in selling it to Ben.... but unfortunately, I think he's probably stuck on butterfly all season. :\

They ended on relays, which was a chaotic mess. B was supposed to swim but some kind of mixup happened and there weren't enough swimmers to do that particular relay or something, so whatever. Finally, we left.  Home at 9p.m. after being there since 3:45. So tired. Practice later today and another meet on Wednesday night. After that, we are at the beach, so we miss the next one.... which I'm thankful for. They are so exhausting! I think if any of them stick with swimming, and want to do it year-round, it will get easier the older Jonathan gets... but right now, just summer team and managing the three of them for that long in that crowded situation is plenty of insanity for me. I'll be happy to go back to regular lessons in the fall. LOL.

Last Day....

Today was the last day of school for the big ones! :)

Winding Down...

We are getting ready to close the book on yet another school year. Why did this one seem like it flew by so quickly? Was it all the snow days? I know I'm not alone because I have seen countless other moms make this same comment. Every year does not feel like this... but this one? Feels like it went by in a blink.

The boys brought home the entire contents of their desks and lockers today. I always love this. It's when we find all things that mysteriously went missing earlier in the year.  For instance, Simon brought home about 27 snack containers. So THAT'S where they all went!  Ben brought home some books that weren't actually his, so I'm not sure what happened there.

On Monday when they come home from the actual last day, (because oh heck yes, my children will be going even though it's ridiculously dumb that the last day of school is on a Monday) I'll wash the lunch boxes, art smocks, and backpacks and put them away again until August. It's bittersweet, a school year coming to an end. This was a good one -- fourth grade and first.  I hope next year it just as wonderful!

Swim Team Time!

Big shout-out to my super swimming boys! Simon continues to surprise me. He was tired yesterday, but he as soon as we got tot he pool, he got right in with his group and did SUCH a great job! Their group even tried no kickboards freestyle and backstroke for the first time last night and he gave it his best shot (no complaining.... Ben has me conditioned to expect complaining) Held his own in freestyle too! I can't wait to see him in his first meet. He's going to do a great job!

Then, the older group practiced. Ben did great, but kept grabbing the lane line when the coach wasn't looking (which drives me nuts! But all the other kids were doing it too....argh) At the end though, the coach had them swim a 25m freestyle as fast as they could and Ben came in first against three much bigger kids. I need to come up with some kind of size and speed-related nickname for him...  Hrm.....