Maddie's Swimming

This summer, Maddie was able to participate in swim team with the parks and recreation department in a semi-competitive/fun environment.   It was a great way to introduce her to a little more serious, competetive atmosphere that still maintained some of the playing, goof off type fun.  It was probably one of the best decisions we made.  It pushed Maddie and helped to grow more than almost anything else.  She started out the season barely able to make it across.  She would finish a lap looking more like a drowned rat than a real swimmer.  I was so proud of her though.  She got up every morning for swim team with a determined look on her face, she never complained about going or told me she wanted to quit, and gradually she got better at each of her strokes.  By the end of the summer, she could make it across with all four swimming styles much faster and more at ease.  She even managed to swim 50 yards a few times at the end.  She walked away knowing that if she works her hardest she can accomplish almost anything and had a big confidence booster to realize that she really is a great swimmer!  Some of our top memories of swim team include:

*M's first swim meet, she had a major meltdown in the middle of her race.  I saw Maddie putting her goggles on, in preparation for her race.  Instead of walking over to check that they were tight enough, I just hoped she had managed to put them on snugly because I didn't want to be the embarassing Mamma that is overbearing.  When her race began she stopped in the middle in tears because her goggles were full of water and she couldn't see.  I felt horrible as I watched her treading water, upset and unsure what to do. I quickly talked with her and told her to do her best and keep going.  After a little pep talk, she managed to get her goggles back and on and did end up finishing the rest.  I was so proud of her to keep going even when something unexpected happened, and that she managed to not touch the lane line during all of this.  Afterwards she was so upset that we ended up leaving the meet early.  I am happy to say we learned our lesson and I taught her how to make sure her goggles are tight enough!

*Miss M stopping in the middle of her breast stroke to wave at her daddy on the side of the pool, then she slipped back in the water and leisurely made her way to the other side of the pool.  Afterwards she was pretty upset that she placed eighth AGAIN!  We had to explain to her that stopping to visit with daddy in the middle of the meet is probably not the best thing to do, if you want to not place last :)

*Maddie announcing rather loudly that "I've gotta go potty" as she is standing on the board waiting for them to say "swimmers take your mark....GOOOOO".  We laughed and then told her she had to swim before she could use the restroom.

*Bribing Maddie with money to get her to swim all the way across the pool during practice initially without touching the lane line and later without stopping and floating.  She is such a reward kid and worked ten times harder when there was a bribe in place.  Luckily after awhile I stopped bribing her, otherwise she would have broke the bank :)

*Miss M calling me on the phone in excitement to tell me that she got seventh place instead of eighth at her last meet!  I was at work that day and it was so fun to hear her enthusiasm for accomplishing her goal of "not being last".

*The daily treks to Perry Pool with the boys.  This included breakfast at the pool out of two ziploc bags of cereal and two sippy cups of milk.  I also changed Eli almost every day in the car at the pool and usually finished my make up in the car for a few minutes after Maddie would run into practice!  Like I said....good times!