Swim Team!

We like for our boys to participate in sports teams, but we don't advocate them devoting their (and subsequently our) lives to one thing.  It's hard enough meeting the needs of 4 individuals, but add in separate activities for each and it's impossible.  I can't do it alone, or even with Derek's help.  For the past few years, the big two have done T-ball/baseball.  This year I was surprised and relieved that they asked to do swim team.  We are not members of a pool, since there is one in our backyard.  I looked into our options and found they can be on our local city swim team.  Although we have a pool, our boys have not had much in the way of formal lessons and are not very strong swimmers.  I was hoping that the swim team would be a motivation and also a tool for practicing to improve their confidence in the water.

I was unable to attend the first swim team practice because I was feeling sick.  Derek took the big two while I stayed home with the littles.  It was reported back to me that Brighton would not even get in the pool because he was too scared he couldn't touch!  It was frustrating to me that he wouldn't even try because we had spent the month leading up to this practicing.  I told Brighton that I wasn't expecting him to be able to swim the entire length of the pool without stopping because I know he currently can not, but he needed to try and that was what mattered.  I told him that he would have one more chance and that if he didn't try, he would not be on the team.  That was the motivation he needed, and luckily the next time went much better.  I know he has a long way to go, but he is working hard and we are so proud of him!

Since my 3 spring babies have birthdays so close together, we are having a combined party.  They wanted a pool party and since the weather can still be quite cool in early April, we opted to have it at a local pool.  We took the big boys there today to check it out since they had the day off.  They had a blast.  I can't wait to see how far they both progress in their swimming over the next 3 months.