impressionable

When Lily first became a big sister she was five and a half and absolutely loved to wear clothes that matched her sisters. Now of course she wouldn't be caught dead wearing anything remotely close to what Ro wears. Mind you they have polar opposite tastes in clothes so that might have a little something to do with it.

Months back we were in Justice, I can't imagine why as I am not a fan and nor is Lily, when we spotted an outfit geared towards swimmers. Lily thought it was awful but Rosie loved it. She couldn't have the outfit only the top as the shorts were huge on her.

Last week Lily received that outfit for her birthday from one of her close friends on the swim team and oh guess what? It's the best outfit ever! Oh yes it is and she wears it as often as it is clean to swimming which is almost everyday as when we come it is wet and gets thrown straight in the machine. Rosie, who has been wearing her shirt on and off for months to swimming, has been told she can't wear it as the older girls are wearing theirs so she can't.
Ummm, sorry Rosie but I only just got wind of this one and the gig is up and you can wear it.

This was tonight. the 2 amigos...and the sister. 

The back of the shirts say, just add water.

Why didn't Lily like them? Because the lime green letters on the front are aparkly. Who knew Rosie would be a trend setter when it came to fashion, certainly not I.

Swim x 2

Both girls were entered in the same swim meet yesterday which made things fabulously easy and bionically complicated all at the same time.

Fabulously easy. 2 girls in the same place at the same time.
Fabulously easy. Swim meet was at Gulliver. 10 minutes from here.
Fabulously easy. Both got to compete on the same weekend.

Bionically Complicated. 10 towels. Which inevitably = 10 wet towels .
Bionically Complicated. The amount of stuff in addition to the 10 towels.
Bionically Complicated. Keeping track of 2 sets of heats.
Bionically Complicated. Keeping track of 2 sets of times.

It was only Rosies second meet she was was fully charged with nervous energy.

And this was my second meet as coaches assistant and first meet as swim mum of 2 kids at the same time. I was charged also and lest we should forget Nanny Freaking McPhee was there and I needed to rise above as that is how I roll. Never let them see you sweat.

First order of official business get Rosie deck entered into the 100 free. Off I trot only to be informed that there are no free lanes left. Back to the boss to relay this information. Boss tells me that is fine that we can enter her as another swimmer as she is fully paid and is not swimming and Rosie is fully entered. I think nothing of this and take care of business. After the transaction is complete I realised that my child is swimming with the 10 and 12 years olds. Say what? To late now.

The kids go off and warm up and I help get everyone organised, heat sheets lined up and parents that are new to this game sorted out. The kids seemed to warm up for ever yesterday but I think it might have had something to do with the amount of people entered in the meet.

Finally it was time to go and Lily was up first. She swam two heats before Rosie swam. Rosie looked a little like the deer in the headlights but pulled it off swimmingly when it was her turn. Lily then competed again before Rosie had to swim with the big leagues. Unfortunately the name change confused everyone and Rosie got a late start, not that this changed much as far as her placing. She came in last in the heat BUT, drum roll please, overall she still managed to beat 3 other kids. Kidlet can swim! Lily then swam her last heat.

Lily shaved time off of all her heats minus the last one. Substantial time. She is now really really close to making Junior Olympic times and I hope she gets them if that is what she wants. She makes me laugh because each and every day in practice she swims hard but enjoys herself and gives herself no pressure but at a meet she reaches down into her toes and pulls so hard. Then back at the practice pool she just toddles along leaving her coach yelling at her and shaking his head. I think he is starting to realise that Lily doesn't "do it" unless it is needed. I know she won some more bling yesterday in two heats but the final scores weren't all tallied when we left.

Nervous Nelly

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Gulliver's pool had a proper score board that showed the kids name and which lane they were in. The girls LOVED it.

Lily loved seeing her name on the board

Lily with her heats and lanes tattooed on her arm. Standard procedure.

Still looking nervous. The board was the place where she was so worried about getting DQ'ed. One little wiggle and you are OUT. Sheesh, talk about pressure.

10th place out of 66. in breast and she shaved just over 5 seconds off of her time.

Rosies 100 free with the big kids. As you can see there isn't anyone around. 

If you look at the photos Lily is always on the lane lines, she circle swims, it is driving her MAD. Rosie isn't doing it. They circle swim in practise and it is a hard habit to break and it costs them time wise. I think and hope that now Lil is getting so aware of it she will be more conscious and might be able to change it. Even after she flip turns she heads straight to the lane line.

We have a break for a couple of weeks before any more meets but in March there is a huge one coming. Lots of pressure for this one. Lily doesn't feel pressure until she gets behind the board, then for her it is, game on and her composure changes entirely. Her goofball attitude gets placed aside and her game face gets put on and that's it.

She flies

The swim team that the girls belong to is called the Flying Fish. Tonight Rosie was diving into the pool off of the boards and I had to giggle because it looked like she was attempting to fly.

She is getting there. She no longer goes in feet first which is a big improvement but there is still a long way to go. Diving in for a race and actually "diving" are a million miles apart, so I am told. I swear I know nothing about swimming. I used to think I did but since these 2 got really into it I have had to throw out everything I have ever known and am learning from scratch.

Rosie far left

Launched!

We have take off.

Kidlet is still finding it so very chilly. Most nights she is a bit blue around the edges by the end of her lesson even with the core suit, sometimes she doesn't make it to the end she gets evicted. The pool is heated!

Makes me giggle

From the moment Rosie started swimming all she has really wanted to do is learn the fly, oh and wear fins.

 Looky.....


 

Tonight we see if she can make the big leagues. Please send her some positive ju ju she wants this so badly. So badly in fact that she woke up at 4.13am. and didn't go back to sleep. I might have to ring the coach and see if we can reschedule her try outs for a night when she has had some sleep.

The man in the lane next to Rosie is Coach Andrew, he is the big boss, this is his swim school and he calls all the shots. She impressed him yesterday so lets hope she can do it again.

Strong like.....

The saying goes, strong like ox but in Rosies case I think it is more, strong like lamb. Today at swimming they were doing strength building exercises for their arms. They were not to use their legs at all and in order to do that they had to hold this funky looking float that was shaped like a dumbell between their legs, rendering them pretty useless.

I was laughing quite a lot as Rosie was powering her way through the pool with her arms so they must be a whole stronger than they look but her legs must be as puny as all get out cos the float kept flying out of them. She is doing quite well and I can see a big difference in her strokes now. She is starting with butterfly which is the hardest for them to master and is getting really quite good at breast stroke  but her legs are still pretty funky. ( and before anyone in my family makes the comment I will......but they aren't as bad as mine when I do it, apparently)

Chicken Legs. Barely able to hold the float

oops, lost it

Doing better and pulling herself up really well.

The photos are all taken through glass and they come out horribly.

She tries so hard and gives it her all.

Picture perfect

My friend Heather is in town for a few days so a few of us got together today for a swim/beach date. We used to meet every Wednesday after school for a play date but most of the sensible people have moved away from Miami so now it's just an occasional thing. We had such a lovely time. The kiddies enjoyed it too. I don't have any photos of Heather or of myself, again.

My bathing beauty

Lily looking so grown up

goofy kid

Kelly and Jacob

Heather's daughter Raegan

Lily diving. I shot these on continuous because she asked me too

Rosie's Cannonball

what kind of grin is that?

Rosie and jacob

The original Big Foot Pool Monster.

I think Lily was more tired this evening than she is after an hour of non stop swimming for her team practice. Both girls were fast asleep by 8pm. It was really a lovely day.

Graduated

Today was Rosies last swimming lesson. We had to decided whether we wanted to enroll her for another session, starting next weekend so that they could work on her breathing just a little more  or not. We decided not. Summertime is our time. We will be in the pool so much anyway that we will work on it with her. She is now swimming the length of the pool doing freestyle and sideways breathing, which apparently is quite impressive for a kid so young and small. Coach says that if we keep on her over the summer she will be ready for the Flying Fish team by the time school starts.

Parents were not allowed poolside for the last 2 weeks, we had to stay behind the glass so the photos are iffy, (aren't they always)


This picture just makes me giggle. She had just put her hat on and it's pulling on her eyes and she generally just looks silly.

Backstroke div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> floating

her favourite part of the class, diving for hoops

Done. Kidlet was taught to swim by not one but 2 ex Olympiads so she should have a good base from here on out.

These coaches are absolutely fantastic. The children learn so much. Some of the kiddies here can't swim, they are in a different program and I watch these huge men acting like teddy bears with these tiny little dots, some of whom are screaming bloody murder for the first couple of weeks. Before long they are loving the water and looking forward to their lessons. Other kids "pretend" they can swim and the coaches kindly teach them how to really swim and turn them into fish and then there are the" Rosies" who swim with their own style. They have to be debriefed and re-taught, properly. Rosie can now swim above the water, breathing properly instead of under the water and wiggling her butt from side to side with the occasional kick of her legs when she was running out of air and needed extra momentum.
If you live in this area and are looking for a swim program for your little kids, swimmers or not I can't say enough about Flying Fish.

swimming photos

Here are some photos from Rosies swim class yesterday that make me smile.

I love the attention that Kristina and Rosie are giving to each other. You would think they were alone

So much effort is being given in bring that arm ALL the way up

Goofy girl, look at her ear!

Swimming free style.

She has fun and she is learning the strokes. Next step swim team.......I just don't see it but that's the plan.

Webbed feet

Someone in this family is bound to develop webbed feet soon from all the time spent at the pool. It will probably be me since we all know that kids are resilient. If we aren't at the pool for team or for Rosie's swimming lessons we are now in the pool for fun since the temps here have reached summer highs and it is sweltering.

Rosie went today and she loved it. She had another of Lily's old coaches and couldn't have been happier. Coach Kristina was one of Lily's favourites and apparently one of Rosies too. I have to say that there isn't a bad coach on this team, they are all equally amazing. Each and everyone one of them wins me over every time they coach. Someone was feeling quite goofy today

Making sure her hands were in the correct position

Using only legs to propel through the water. Straight legs at that no spaghetti legs allowed in this pool

Just keep swimming

Her face said it all today. She smiled all the time cos they swam most of the lesson, none of that can you blow bubbles junk.

Second verse better than the first

Rosies second day of swimming lessons went a whole lot better than the first. She actually swam. She had the same coach again, which is a good thing so she warmed up really quick and was very happy to see they had to swim the length of the pool immediately, albeit with help. The idea is to get them to swim properly not swim the fandangled way that they swim when they teach themselves.

 She had loads of fun today but still wanted to swim swim swim without the use of a coach. To bad little fish you have to learn the right way not the Rosie way. These two pic's were taken at the beginning of her class. Then Coach yelled, "Mama< does she have a swim cap. She has the softest hair i have ever touched and when I try and hold her head straight my hand keeps slipping?"

So, Mama ran and bought her the cutest swim can EVER.

Here she is doing freestyle, kinda. When coach was showing her how to do it it looked more like he was drowning her. Jacob and I were laughing.

 Dang, that cap kills me. I love it. I can hardly wait for next week now.

 This blog layout is better than yesterday but still under construction. At least I have a sidebar again.