Flip! Owwwwww!

Saturday we went to Greenfield Pool as a family. Since Dana was there, I had a chance to try out what my kids do every single morning, bright and early for practice. Swimming and Diving. I've had lots of time to sit and watch Emma and Eli as they do their stuff. I knew Emma was a good swimmer. But man! All that practice pays off.

I never learned to swim "the right way" as a kid and now whenever I get a chance, I practice. I've talked to a few moms about how we'd love a swim team for grown-ups. I could wear my mom suit and show everyone the hilarious attached bottoms inside the skirt.

So anyway- I started out swimming freestyle. I struggled to get my head to the side enough so I didn't breathe in water. In my defense, a rubberband would have been very helpful. I did a rather pathetic job on my first lap and decided to try again. At the end of the lap, feeling a little more capable (and quite tired), Emma came to join me. She offered to race me in backstroke. She gave me the basic instructions and we were off. I threw aside good-mom etiquette and tried to beat her fair and square. When I got to the end of the lane I came up to see her big smile beaming at me. I would like to say she let me down easy, but I guess she hasn't learned good-kid etiquette yet. I heard a lot of "Oh my gosh mom- you can barely breathe and you did like 3 laps! I do like 13 and I never breathe that hard!" She was sooo right. I need to get some practice. One more reason I need a pool someday. In case 4 months of 100+ temps isn't enough.

Here is Emma warming up for swim team at 7:15am.
My little pro. I'm jealous of my 9 year old- I'll admit it.

Next, we dripped our way to the diving board. Did I mention I never learned to dive either? Let's just say in my family sports was towards the bottom of the priority list. I'm pretty sure I would've been even more terrified than I am now. I tried out what Eli was taught to do. Bend down, arms over ears pointed at the water and fall head down. When I felt a little decent at that, I wanted to try the flip. It looks so easy and effortless for so many of those kids. Emma tried too. We both backflopped a couple times before we called it quits until another day.

This is what we saw ALOT of from Eli at the beginning of dive team.

Realizing he needed more practice and help than he was going to get from the teenage lifeguard-coaches at dive team, I began thinking of pools with diving boards. Luckily, I didn't have to think too long. My sweet cousin-in-law, Letta, volunteered herself to give him instruction. I'm not sure she knew what she was in for because Eli can be somewhat difficult and is not afraid to express his feelings and frustration to anyone. Even more so when he's shivering cold. But she was so wonderful. She turned the dive above, into the dive below.

On the first day when he was crying and panicked to jump off I wasn't sure I was going to see anything like this. Made my heart jump for joy everytime. I can't say he really likes diving but he did it, he stuck with it and that's all that counts.

I am so glad that I got to try out what they've spent so much time on. It was an eye-opening experience for me. I definetly admire these little people. Mine and all the kids there. They work so hard!

My "big" kids teach me so much constantly. How rewarding as a mom to watch your kids grow and turn into the people they will become.