All in Good Time.....

After months and months of painfully slow and steady progress on the potty training front, Jonathan is finally there.

He FINALLY tells us when he needs to pee pee and even when he's in the POOL, which I'm super impressed with!

Poop is an entirely different story (sigh), but we're working on it and he is motivated by his big reward of getting to camp out in Simon's room.  I'm still hopeful we'll wrap the whole thing up by the time school starts, but even if he's still not quite 100%, I at least know he'll tell his teacher he needs to peepee, which is a huge step from last year where I had to rely on the teacher to remember to make him go and when things got busy, that didn't always happen.

Still needs a Pullup at night because that's hit or miss, especially when he sleeps in a little.

After this, it will be time to tackle the binky.... but one thing at a time!

He is a stubborn one!

Water World....

We had SO much fun at my Aunt Gail's pool yesterday with Luke and Faith! And I got to try out my new waterproof iPhone case which, thankfully, works... ;)

New Glasses

We picked up Ben's new glasses a couple days ago. His eye doctor appointment earlier in the week showed a mild change in his prescription. When he put them on though, he said, "Whoa. Everything is clear again!!" LOL.

Jonathan is next up in September, since he flunked his preschool eye exam in the spring. 

Simon seems okay, but should probably still go for a checkup since it has been two years. During his first exam when he was about 2-3, she warned us he'll be near-sighted like Tom and Ben, so it's just a waiting game as to when he'll get the glasses too. I'll take him later in the fall.  I did have him try on Ben's old glasses and had him look at some things far away which he said he could see better... but who knows?

Anyway, Ben picked out his own new glasses. He liked these because they look like Tom's. ;)  Simon keeps calling him Harry Potter.

School.....

Summer is going by TOO quickly. :(

I was at Target with the boys a couple days ago and the school supplies were all out, along with the local school lists so conveniently displayed next to them. I went ahead and got it done.... but quickly came home and put it all away. There is still summer to be had!

Someone asked me about next year's library volunteer schedule when I was at the pool the other day. Yeah, no, I haven't started the sign-up page yet and have no idea what the schedule even is for the upcoming year. Also, I'm pretty sure if I were to email the librarian about it during her vacation, she'd send me an all caps text back about how IT'S STILL SUMMER. NO. JUST NO. ;)

I got two emails from schools in the past two days we are looking at for Ben for the year AFTER this year.  "Hurry up! Sign up for shadow days! And testing! And open houses!"

Make it stop.

Btw, I heard there was something i the works about  maybe moving future county school start dates to AFTER Labor Day like it used to be. Where do I sign?

Swim Banquet....

Last swim team entry for at least 11 months!  ;)

So last night was the awards banquet. It did not disappoint.  Like every year, the coach said a little something about each and every kid and they were all just so spot-on and well thought out.

I missed video of Simon's because I was focusing on trying to take a picture and it came up faster than I was expecting. It was a funny little bit about how many times he would tell him to use his arms and he'd stop moving his legs.... and his legs and then stop moving his arms but how someday it will come together for him. (trust me, it was cute) And then he got his trophy, which he had LITERALLY been counting down the minutes for.

He didn't even stay with the team on the floor after that, he came running back to the table and spent the rest of the evening polishing the top of it with his dinner napkin.  

Ben's was adorable and funny too.  I'll put the video here later when I get it off of my phone.

There was a slideshow and special awards. The little girl who swam the five-minute backstroke two strokes at a time got a special determination award. Love love love. 

Ben was surprised to get two third place ribbons from the last meet of the regular season with his trophy. We thought he had placed 4th! YAY!

With Coach Doug (blurry pic... I was trying to hurry because people were waiting)

Most of the 2014 team. A few kids couldn't make it. :)

Trophy Meet....

One of our loftier swim team goals this year was to get Ben to compete in the league trophy meet.
It was HUGE deal that we made it to all the away meets this year. We didn't do any last year.
I think making him do the away meets pushed him through a lot of the unfamiliar pool anxiety. After the first one, he didn't seem worried about it anymore. So we took the momentum and went with it!

The deal with the championship is that any kid from the league can go as long as they have competed in at least half the meets of the season. Trophies are given to kids placing 1-10 and ribbons for 11-20th. Little kids (8U) get ribbons just for swimming.  We heard it was a great experience for the kids and the ones who go are always happy they did.

SO, he chose his two events (back and fly) and practiced CONSTANTLY.  The kids were required to do at least ONE practice over three days to be allowed to compete. There were two a day. He insisted we go every day (which we would have done anyway) but then also twice on Friday. LOL. Then he continued to practice during the pep rally for the team that evening. The coach finally told him to stop and save his energy. LOL!

This year, the championship was held at Loyola High School. The 10 and under group warmups started at 10:30, so we arrived at 10. The 11 and up group was finishing up and then both groups would do relays together. So ALL the kids were there together for awhile and when we arrived, we realized what a crazy event it was going to be. Cars EVERYWHERE.

On the way in, we ran into one of the first grade teachers from the kids' school and we chit chatted about the general awesomeness of swim team and the structure it gives the summer.  Inside, we ran into several more people we know who swim for other pools. So fun!  It was such an electric atmosphere.... all the kids were so excited. Ben walked in and was immediately amazed by the whole thing... and the school... "I LOVE this place. Could I maybe go here?!" he kept saying. LOL.

We were put into a holding area in a giant gym in a designated spot for our team and everyone just made themselves comfortable with chairs, picnic blankets, snacks, games.  The kids were called for relays and warmups and then they started lining up for individual events. It was like a regular meet multiplied by 10.

Event lineup and seed times for fly

Lineup and seeds times for back

Ben was anxious, so Tom and I tried to keep him busy and occupied. We took turns walking up to the viewing area so he could watch the races. He saw a few of his team mates come back with trophies and started getting excited. Eventually, he took off with some of the kids from the older group and camped out outside of the viewing window overlooking the pool and cheered everyone on.

From the viewing window...

Then, after three hours of waiting, it was time for him to line up. Grandmom, Poppy, and Aunt Debbie swooped in to watch in the nick of time! I took him down and then ran back upstairs to the bleachers in the viewing area and within minutes he was on deck for 9-10 boys backstroke. He swam it SO well! His seed time was in the top 16 of 32 kids racing, so he actually had a shot at a trophy if he had one of his better races.  Unfortunately, he didn't get a particularly good push off and then, in a super frustrating moment, the timer didn't stop immediately when he touched the wall!!! Tom's video shows the pool AND the scoreboard (which was updating in real time with the kids times and places in the heat as they finished) and there is a good 2-3 seconds where it keeps running after he gets there. He probably could have finished about 11th if it had been right.... but the time they had put him 18th. ARGH! Ben said he saw that happen a few other times during the day too.... we don't know why. But I guess it is what it is.... at any rate, 18th out of 30 swimmers is pretty respectable for a first big meet!!

Lined up for backstroke!

Almost there....

Name on the scoreboard right before the race... (times and places are left from the heat before) 

We stayed put because butterfly was up shortly after....his seed time in fly was not nearly as good. Fly is SO hard and he is SO small compared to many other boys in his age group, especially the ones who swim that stroke. The hope was for him to just swim it his best. And swim he did! He placed 17 out of 19.... 27-something seconds... not his best time of the season, but it was so fun to watch!

Name on the board before his butterfly heat.... (times are from the previous heat... holy COW some of those kids are fast)

We had forgotten about the 11-20th place kids getting ribbons, so left without them. Hoping they show up today at the awards dinner. :)

It was a FANTASTIC experience and he can't wait to do it again next year. He's also talking very seriously now about doing winter swimming.... so we'll see where that goes. As it turns out, all the local private high schools host year-round swim teams that are open to everyone, some are more intense than others. So we're going to check all that out.

As for Simon, when we were celebrating at Chipotle (of course) after the meet, I asked, "So do you think you'll do the trophy meet next year?" He thought for a minute and said, "I think I'll do it when I'm 10." ;)

Haircuts...

Finally made time to get Ben and Simon's haircut. Whew. Simon was starting to complain, and rightfully so. LOL.  Ben, on the other hand, likes the longer sort of surfer-boy/lax player look. That's how most of the boys at school look too. I can't stand it after a certain point though, especially when it gets long in the back and starts looking mullet-like.  ;)  So now we have the hair reboot.  Should be back where he wants it just in time for school pictures.

Last Swim Meet....

Last night was the final swim meet of the regular season. It was away against a team that had also lost every meet of their season thusfar. LOL.

The kids were psyched.

Simon is counting down the minutes until he gets his trophy on Sunday.  Every half hour, he asks me "Is there at least a 50% chance it's shaped like a cup?" "Do you think it will be tall?" "Will it be gold, silver, or bronze?" I finally had to say, "I don't know anything about the trophy, can we please just wait and see?"

Ben was just in full-on swim manic mode, excited to swim, excited for another chance at a 1st or second-place ribbon, excited for his new shirt.... EXCITED! Bouncing off the wall.  It was quite a ride with him last night.

Here he is in his butterfly shirt, which of course he insisting on posing in while striking a butterfly stroke position.  (we won't discuss how I am annoyed about the question mark placement on the shirt..... that would be totally off topic and crazy.... LOL)

The swim director also had a surprise for the kids. Under Armor shirts with their names on the back. OH BOY were they thrilled with these!!! 

Lined up for their last team cheer of the season.....

Tom had a work dinner last night, so I was flying solo at the meet. It worked out okay. Jonathan played a little iPhone, spent some time in the baby pool, and cheered on his brothers in their races. Also showed his team spirit. ;)

It was a good one. Super fun. The other pool did a lot of neat, fun little things throughout, like randomly announcing certain heats were "Sweet treat heats!" and the kids who won (though it ended up being all the kids who were in that heat) got vouchers for a free treat at the bake table. They also played music the entire time, which made it fun and helped keep the kids pumped up. 

Simon swam his freestyle well, second heat. Last place, but good swim for him! He also swam backstroke.... used arms more than usual, tried to kick hit feet really hard like we had been working on. Great job!

Ben swam back and swam it SO HARD. He was outmatched in size though... came in 4th. His time was a good one for him though and his intensity was the best I have ever seen from him!  He also swam fly and ROCKED it.... strong swim with another too close for me to call finish. 3rd or 4th.  He was mad again, but the timer in his lane even told him he swam it AWESOME. He should be proud of himself. 

The coach put every kid in relays last night, so Simon swam his first relay. Not sure how those went because I was busy packing up.

The other team won (again, their first win of the season.... all losses, just like us), and it was really cute how they celebrated -- all jumped in and splashed and yelled and the music got cranked up again. 

What a great season! We did our first away meets, and competed in more meets than last season (only missed the one when we were on vacation!), Ben got his second place ribbon and improved his times, Simon swam in his first meet and he got better with every meet he swam in! It was a success all around. 

Saturday is the championship meet which will be another first for Ben. He's nervous and it's a little out of his comfort zone, but I think he's also excited about it. Can't wait see he how proud he is of himself for doing it! :)

He DID it!

I was watching Jonathan in the pool this morning while the coach was giving out ribbons for the last three meets when I heard the loudest "YES!!! YES YES!!! WOOHOO!!!!" in a familiar voice come right after I heard him call Ben's name. I knew exactly what that meant... but I wasn't sure how it was possible? 

He most definitely placed third in this particular race, but he DID say that night that he thought one of the kids who beat him DQed for not touching the wall with the right number of hands. (I can never remember if its one or two in fly... but Ben always remembers... thank goodness. LOL!) 

Well, apparently he was right! And there it is. His much wished for second place ribbon. 

Whew. This is enough motivation to get him through the next two meets and the trophy meet! ;)

Swimmer!

A year ago,  Jonathan was taking swim lessons from the same teacher the big boys were and he was doing great! She'd let him go and he'd kick and paddle to her under the water. I thought for SURE he'd be swimming unassisted by this summer.

But then that teacher left AND Jonathan's world got rocked by preschool separation issues, which were challenging, to say the least.... when we tried to pick up swim lessons with a new teacher, he was having none of it. We tried again with a third teacher, but he would immediately start screaming, "I WANT MY MOMMY!!" and so we dropped it.

This summer, when we got in the pool, it seemed he had forgotten all those fun things he used to do in the water. He hung out on the step and wouldn't even come out into the shallow end in his floatie. 

Eventually, he did figure out he could do that and all was well. I was content to have him safe in his puddle jumper, paddling around. He was happy. 

And THEN? One day I got in and he decided he wanted to play with me without it. So now that's our thing, we do rides and he jumps to me and mostly he clings like a monkey. He remembered he knows how to swim underwater and has gotten really brave. This is all great except that he no longer wants to wear the puddle jumper EVER. ARGH. 

But yesterday, we may have had a major breakthrough. He figured out that kicking his feet really hard keeps him up and he started doing a a doggie paddle and going short distances from the step this way. (maybe three feet or so) Then he'd swim back to the step and start again. He did this for an hour yesterday back and forth. He was pretending he was on swim team and would even do the "beep!!!" LOL! Now that he has a way to keep his head above water, I think I have a shot at actually teaching him how to swim. And he is SUPER motivated because he does NOT want anything to do with that puddle jumper. 

I'm hoping he is receptive to doing swim lessons in the fall with Simon's teacher. I've been talking it up... how when he learns to really swim he won't ever have to wear the the floatie.... yada yada.... and once he can swim the length of the pool (probably year after next), he can do swim team. (he thinks swim team and big kids and swim caps and goggles are just the most awesome thing ever) 

Here's to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and having three competent swimmers eventually!  Now, if I could just get him to use the potty consistently, my life would be exponentially easier. :)

Swim Meet #6!

Last night's meet had a dramatic beginning, as a round of crazy storms had just come through. We took our time getting there, knowing that every time we heard thunder was another 30 minutes it would be delayed. Arrived around 5:15 and the skies were still grey. Just as we were putting our things out on the chairs, there was more thunder and two massive lightning strikes SCARY close. Everyone ran under the snack bar awning and into a nearby pavilion. This turned out to be a good thing, because Tom and the boys and I found a quiet corner and ate the dinner I had packed. It was relaxing for a change as opposed to shoveling food into our mouths between events. At 6:05, they decided to skip warm-ups (genius!) and the timers and kids were getting in position.... and.... more thunder.

Thankfully, that was the last of it, so things got under way around 6:30 and moved super fast. It was the most efficiently-run swim meet we've attended thus far. 

I had forgotten that Ben's science teacher from last year goes to this particular pool and we ran into him when we walked in. Ben was awkward in that "I just ran into my teacher in a place outside of school" way. ;)   Then it turned out, Mr. H. was the announcer and he was so funny. Cracked jokes all night and gave sports scores. The best though was when Ben stepped up to swim his first event and he announced him as: "And swimming for Eagles Nest in lane 2, the best science and social studies student I have ever had the pleasure of teaching.... Ben Graff!!" LOL. Too funny. 

Between that and having to reset after someone else's false start though, I think Ben was a little thrown because it was NOT his best freestyle swim ever. I was hopeful he'd have a good shot last night too because that pool is significantly shorter than any other in the league and he could push harder from the start without fizzling out. But.... no dice. Came in fourth of six. 

Simon swam freestyle next and did AWESOME! He stayed right with the pack. I think he came in last but he swam really great!! 

After that, we had a huge break until Simon's backstroke and Ben's butterfly. Jonathan is such a trooper at these meets. He is loving the away ones because there is always a new baby pool and playground to explore. :) 

Simon swam backstroke and forgot to use his arms. It was a little disappointing because he had looked SO good in practice yesterday morning... arms and legs... the whole deal! When I asked him about it after the race, he said he can't use his arms once he bumps into the lane line because he can't get his butt and legs back up. LOL. So we'll have to work on that.  ;)  He gets out there and does it though. No fear. He's so brave!

Speaking of brave, after Simon were 6U's and a little girl from school swam backstroke for the first time. She would go two strokes and stop. Two strokes and stop. The other team sent a teen swimmer to jump in the pool and assist but our coach yelled at her at the top of his lungs! "NO!!! Get OUT of the pool!! These are MY kids!" The poor older girl was so confused....  after that, the coach encouraged and coached little Anna all the way across that lane all by herself, two strokes at a time. It took a full five minutes to get her to the other end,  but it was quite an amazing thing to watch and I know every mom in the place had tears in their eyes.  I totally get why he didn't want the older girl in there with her and I love that he is so protective of "his" swimmers.  It's one of the things I love about our swim team...  on a bigger team, that kid wouldn't even be allowed to be ON the team yet.... but on ours they can all do it, no matter how well they swim and they learn as they go! That little girl will have the pride of knowing she did it by herself.... and also will now even get a ribbon because she did not have an assistant in the water. :) (I believe if they have someone in the pool with them and they don't qualify for any ribbons or points) 

Anyway.... next up was Ben's butterfly. I REALLY thought this was his night because of the short pool. I told him to give it everything he had and not hold back. But, alas... he didn't get a very good dive start and started off behind. He finished 4th of 6 again. Came over to us afterward and burst into tears. I've never seen him want something so badly.... but he has GOT to get that start down if he is ever going to have a chance.  He was in freestyle relay as the last event and did great in that. He said those are easy because there is no pressure. ARGH! 

Two more meets to go... and then the championship. Ben is nervous there are starting blocks.... and I think there might be.... playing that down for now. :\  Simon won't be doing that one... he's not quite ready for it yet. ;) (truth be told, Ben isn't really either... he'' probably get crushed... but he has a chance at a trophy and a medal since they give them up through 10th place and medals for relays up to fifth place. I've heard it's a fun meet... so I think it will be a good experience for him for sure! Plus it will give him a taste of what a much bigger meet is like... if he were to do winter swimming at some point or swim for whatever high school he goes to)

Here's some video from last night. Not sure what order the clips ended up in... but it's Ben's freestyle, fly, and relay... and Simon's freestyle. Ben is in lane two (second from left) for freestyle and lane four (second from right) for the other two. Simon is in lane 2 for his. :)

Swim Meet #5!

I think I may have possibly exhibited some bad form last night when I freaked out on Ben for stopping in the middle of a relay that he was WINNING to grab the lane line and adjust his goggles. But seriously. What the ever loving heck, kid?! As they say in Nemo, "JUST KEEP SWIMMING!!!"

What a great night though! Ben was SO determined to get that 1st or 2nd place ribbon-- he worked on getting his dive start out further in the water all week and spent part of the weekend watching videos of Michael Phelps YouTube videos. (if you haven't seen 11-year-old Michael swim, go google it.... it's jaw-droppingly amazing) The race was SO close. If this had been the other night's team and he had swam this 23-second butterfly he pulled out of nowhere, he would have won... but last night's kids were faster. As it was 1st-4th were SO close. I don't even know if he got 3rd or 4th because it looked liked they touched the wall at the same time!

He rocked the backstroke earlier in the evening.... also a dead heat. 4th in that.

Simon swam heat 2 of freestyle and was AWESOME! Best I ever seen him swim. It helped that the pool was deep all the way across... wish they were all like that. He was IN the race this time for the first time ever and beat at least one kid, maybe two.  He was also in backstroke and USED HIS ARMS!!!  So proud.

It's amazing how there is measurable progress every single time they swim. Ben was mad at himself again (he always is), but also proud of his time and Simon was proud of all the new things he accomplished! Nobody loses in swim team! 

(Oh and I assisted with Clerk of Course for the first time and survived. Whew. No one swam out of order, at least for the first half. LOL. )

July 4th!

Despite it being a little bit unseasonably chilly thanks to Hurricane Arthur to the east, we headed to the pool for July 4th. It was a last-minute decision and I"m glad we went because the boys had a blast! We stayed for almost five hours.  They had all sorts of fun games planned for the kids and great food! 

Afterward, we had Tom's parents over for wine and cheese on the deck in the evening and the boys did their second round of sparklers. Jonathan has yet to last long enough to see fireworks or sparklers. LOL. Oh well... maybe next year. ;)

We spent the first half of the day at the pool yesterday and part of the second half in the backyard sprinkler. :) Then a storm rolled in and the boys watched Neverending Story on the couch with popcorn. Summer is awesome. :)

Swim Team Adventures... continued....

I have learned a lot more about the whole swim team thing this year because I was finally able to start volunteering at the meets. Tom watches Jonathan for the first half, and I have been taking the first half ribbon writing slot.

As it turns out, this is an awesome job. All the things that used to be a total mystery to me are starting to get cleared up since I have been camped out at the scoring table where all the action is. I'm still a little fuzzy on the actual scoring because the sheets don't come to me with scores on them, just times and "the sweep" (I just learned that term last night), which is the order in which the lanes placed.

I've learned that kids DQ a lot less than I thought they did, so I finally understand why Ben got ribbons last year when I could have sworn he DQed every time. Turns out, he didn't!

I've also learned what is a competitive time in the various strokes and age groups, which has helped a LOT in motivating Ben.

He was DETERMINED to win at least a second place ribbon last night. DETERMINED. (He has only ever won as high as third.... so the elusive red ribbon is his big goal right now)

He was put in heat 3 for freestyle last night (which kind of surprised me? I thought at least heat 2? But whatever....), so he had no shot at second for that because 1-4 go to the first heat swimmers. After that, places up to 10th are given. He had the 6th fastest time out of 12, out-swimming three out of four kids who were in heat 2! He won his heat handedly and was over the moon when he got out of the pool... came running over to the scoring table to confirm that he won. Then he ran over and told Tom and his parents that he felt like he had had six cups of coffee he was so excited. LOL!

Then he found out he doesn't get a blue ribbon for winning his heat.... he was SO deflated. I had looked at all the times though and the winner swam it in 48 seconds and change.... 2nd-4th swam it in 50 and change.... 5th was 52 seconds and Ben swam it in  52:87! So he was not that far of and he improved his last freestyle time by almost 8 seconds... so really, he should be CRAZY proud of himself.

His next event was his usual butterfly, which he has now completely embraced and is determined to take a higher that third ribbon in since he always swims the first heat.  He swam it BEAUTIFULLY, probably the best I have ever seen him do it. He beat our team's other swimmer, but lost to the two swimmers from the other team. He swam it in 33:37, which is good, but not his best time. To have a chance to win, he needs to get it down to something like 28 or 29 seconds. Maybe by the end of the season! :)  He was pretty happy with himself for getting third on this one, though I know he really wanted second...

Then there was Simon. Sweet Simon. He has made GREAT strides. He now holds his own in his freestyle heat (usually the last one... they have to work their way up). Last night was the first time he swam it without taking a break in the middle. He did really well! He still does not quite grasp (or care?) though that it's a race. No urgency whatsoever. LOL.  At the start, when the buzzer went off, instead of jumping in, he slowly sat down on the side and slid in and then started swimming.

He also swam backstroke, in which he simply refuses to use his arms.  I do wish the coach would just stop putting him in this event for now, but he does it for the learning experience... so maybe he'll get it soon. As it was, I'm sure he'll come away with a couple of 9th and 10th place ribbons, so he'll be ecstatic on Friday. ;)

Truly. I am a total swim evangelist now.... swim team is SUCH an amazing experience for every kid involved. Last night, I watched a mom of a six-year-old (one of the kindergarteners from our school who I know... so cute...) stand at the end of the lane making wild freestyle arm movements and shouting "Swim!! Swim!!! Swim, baby girl, SWIM!!!" and it was seriously the cutest and funniest moment ever. I wish someone had taken a photo. The little girl finished dead last by about thirty seconds but everyone cheered when she got out of the pool. I seriously don't think a single kid leaves a swim meet NOT feeling proud of themselves, which is kind of awesome in the world of kid sports these days.

Anyway... so... onward to the away meets, which will be a new experience for us. We are braving them this year! Ben is hesitant, but I pointed out that no meets = no ribbons, so I think he'll come around. ;)