Makin' Waves

This is the last day of relative quiet on the extracurricular front. Neighborhood swim team practice starts tomorrow, and will happen every weekday at 4pm. Then, after school is out and until the end of June, it will be every morning at 9:00. I don’t really, um, like to do things before about 10 (okay really 11), so getting Laura and Hank up to the pool every morning, with goggles, towel, sunscreen applied, cheerful “hey neighbor” gameface on, and coffee in hand, requires considerable maternal stamina. I did it last year, though, so I guess I can do it again. Back then Hank wasn’t walking yet, so it took a lot of work for him to hurl himself into the deep end. This year I might just stay on the adjacent playground with him and not go into the pool area at all.

Also, for the next four Tuesday nights, LJ will have a “stroke clinic” to hone her technique, ‘cause the seven year-olds have to swim all four strokes in the neighborhood swim meets. If you are looking for a way to spend hundreds of dollars on your child’s recreational/sporting life, then a graduated series of swim classes (this will be the 4th session we’ve done since the winter) is one way to go. Yikes.

That said, I think swimming is a great sport for younger kids, because they can really do it and compete at the same meets as the big, fast teenagers. It feels like the real deal to them. And the multi-hour meets are fun for the whole family, what with the standing around and sweating, and the chatting, and the mosquitoes. Better than it sounds!