What I Learned This Week...

Oct 192009

What-I-Learned-This-Week


What a weekend! Full of learning…

I learned that when your little boy has been practicing 3-4 nights a week for 3 months straight, the culminating swim meet is a BIGDEAL.

I learned that it is not possible to write the word breast on your 9 year-old’s arm without giggling to yourself.

Swim_Arm

I learned that when watching your son swim in his first race of the weekend, it doesn’t matter whether he is coming in first (he wasn’t) or last (he wasn’t!). You will be so busy admiring his newly-learned technique and determination that you won’t even know who won until the very end.

Swim1

I learned that when you realize that he didn’t know who won the race until the very end either, you will be super-impressed by the fact that he doesn’t expect to win every race. He is happy to swim and use all of his new skills that he has been practicing.

I learned that 9 year-olds don’t know how to react when an overzealous 10 year-old teammate hugs him to congratulate him on a good swim. :-)

I learned that this picture brings tears to my eyes. Michael dove into the water with his goggles on. They fell off his face and while trying to quickly pull them out of his mouth, he “messed-up” (my technical term) his coveted butterfly stroke. The stroke he has been working on so hard every practice. The stroke he couldn’t wait to swim at the meet.

Fly

And when he finished swimming in that race – the one that he won – I learned what that feeling was like. Some of you might know that feeling. The feeling that I got when we watched him finish the race and touch the wall and look up – to the judge- who came over to talk to him. Judges do that when they disqualify a swimmer (for “messing-up” the stroke). So, that feeling, the one where your heart drops into your stomach and your eyes well up with tears because you can’t fix it? I learned what that feeling is. It’s the worst feeling.

I learned that after a race like that, you hustle over to get your son fitted with some brand-spankin’ new don’tfalloffmyface goggles. The shiny mirrored ones. Because that’s what he wants.

I learned that the best feeling in the world is watching your child love something. Excel at something. TRY (really try!) at something.

I learned that I am a proud, proud Mom.

Mom_Mike_Swim


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Weekend wrap-up

Sep 142009

How was your Sunday? Ours was pretty busy… Here’s a picture recap:

Michael had his first swim meet yesterday. It’s kind of hard to get pictures of him swimming, so you’ll have to settle for my funny moment of the day.

Unbeknownst to me, it’s common practice for young swimmers to have their races written on their arms… so they (and the coaches) know who is supposed to be where at what time.

So, this:

#48 50 FLY H1 L3

would translate to this:

Race number 48, 50 m. butterfly stroke, Heat 1, Lane 3. Easy, huh?

I about lost it when a Mom on our team wrote this on her son’s arm:

arm

If you can’t see it, it says #50 25 Breast…

I turned around and said “Did you just write breast on your 8 year-old’s arm?” because occasionally I act like a 14 year-old boy.

It’s funny until I have to write it on Michael’s during the next meet, right?

After the swim meet, I scurried off to a baby shower for a dear friend. No pictures, sorry.

When I got home, though, I was treated to this:

skyand this:

footballand this:

Jack_bird

A perfect evening to be outside enjoying the cool (91 degrees!) weather.

That picture is of Jack telling me all about the dead bird that he found in the road .

Did you know that it crunched under the wheel of his scooter? He told me so.

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What do you do?

Aug 232009

 


 

What do you do when your kids are “bummed?”

We had a mopey 9 year-old boy here today. He didn’t know why he was sad, and neither did we.

We had friends over swimming in the morning, then we ate lunch and went swimming again. What’s to be sad about?

When Dad came home this afternoon, though, he put an end to it.

He took his wallet and phone out of his pockets, and went to find the unhappy little boy.

He took him out of the playroom,

Dad_with_Michael

walked him outside,

Pool_1

and jumped in the pool with him. Clothes and all.

Michael_2

Riley (the dog) was a little upset about the whole thing.

And so was Michael, at first.

Michael_3

But then Dad did a backflip into the water.

Michael_4

And don’t you know that everything is better after a backflip?


There is a happy ending. Michael is feeling better.

Ludlum_5

So… what do you do?


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Poor Jack. Poor Mom.

Jul 292009

It happened.

We have been walking around knocking on wood for the past 9 years every time we hear about a friend taking their child to the ER for stitches, or a cast, or some other childhood rite of passage.

We are the parents of two boys. Two boys who have never had stitches or casts. Two crazy boys who wrestle and climb on things and build bicycle ramps in the backyard.

Jack has fallen onto a tractor blade (little bump).

Michael flew over the handlebars of his BMX bike at the track (couple scrapes).

They play “body bowling” with their dad. For those of you who have not yet played, that’s when they hold onto Dad’s ankles and he “kicks” them across the tile like bowling balls rolling down the lane. The slipperier the pajamas, the better.

You get the picture – This should have happened a long time ago.

But it didn’t. It happened last night while they were swimming. It’s hard to explain, but Jack was “monkey walking” around the pool deck with his arms locked at the elbows. His head was about 2 feet above the water. They had been swimming for a while so the deck was wet and his hands slipped. He wacked his chin against the deck and fell into the water. I think I saw just two drops of blood. Tough kid, that Jack.

He is now the proud owner of three shiny black stitches. He’s been proudly telling the story all day to everyone who asks what happened.

Jack's stitches

I hope this buys us another 9 years.

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A favor

Jul 212009
    1. Do you know a child who likes to play in the water?

    2. Do you have a pool?

    3. Do you have a neighbor or friend that has a pool?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, please click on the blue box to the right.

Then forward it.

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Swim Team!

Jun 092009
I usually only post when the kids do something funny, but bare with me.  Today was the first day of swim team! The boys had a blast!
Here’s Michael on the right:

and on the way back:
When it was Jack’s turn to swim the length of the pool (they had to show the lifeguards that they could swim that far in order to be on the team), he realized that the other kids were ahead of him and decided to get out of the pool, run ahead to the end of the lane, then jump back into the pool to beat the other kids!  He was pretty popular after that!
Here’s Jack telling the coach that he wants to work on diving:


The coaches/lifeguards were a little confused about what to do with the little (ages 4-7) guys… here they are discussing what to do next…

Our little Michael Phelps:

Jack and his friend Garret practicing their kicks:
Overall, a very fun time!  Good thing we get to do it again tomorrow,
and the next day, and the next day…
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A Summer Preview

Mar 132009


The boys were getting dangerously close to the pool today while playing with an R/C boat.  Since we thought it might happen anyway, we dared them to jump in (and bribed them with an all-you-can-eat ice cream buffet).  Jack was a little braver, but they both got in!!  P.S. The water was 61 degrees…  brr!

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