Summer of Swim

Cousin Noah at a swim meet at Del Norte, lookin' fierce

Another tough competitor, from the Under 6 division, the purple-goggled backstroke wonder girl, Mikayla.

So glad I pushed her to do swim team as she loves her swim meets and the M-F practices. I love what great exercise it is for her and am so glad she's learning how to swim so well.

I'm somewhat amazed that my little 6 year old is learning to refine her strokes and breathing techniques and can now swim a half length of the pool in practice on only one breath! A major improvement from the beginning of the season.

Getting a pep talk from Coach Beth at the starting blocks.

So, it's kind of funny, but I am actually turning out to be much more competitive and crazy at these swim meets than my high-school athlete husband. At her second meet, Mikayla took 1st place in backstroke out of all the Under 6 kids on either team. I was over the moon and of course, expected this to be a trend. I was not prepared for her major bummer of a swim meet the following weekend. She went from 1st to 6th place....and it did not phase her one bit. I was upset and slightly mortified inside by her performance, but tried hard not to show it.

Mikayla says, "So, what place did I get?" I said, "Well, honey, you got sixth place..." I prepared for heart-dropping, tear-filled outburst and instead heard, "Wow, I wonder what color ribbon I'll get?! I mean, I got a blue ribbon last week and I've gotten red too, but I haven't gotten a sixth place ribbon yet!" She was thrilled to learn it was an aquamarine ribbon to add to her collection, leaving Mom to be the only one still frustrated by the 6 yr old's performance.

Oh well. Get over it Mom. She's 6. People tell me at this age that they are so unpredictable that such a change from week to week is normal and somewhat expected.

Still. Doesn't mean I have to like it. :) Oh well, I'll continue to shuttle her to practice everyday, shoot pep talks and pointers into her ears before she swims, and cheer like crazy during her half-minute sprint across the pool.