Proud Mommy, part 2

The car ride to the first swim meet was a little rocky.  Number 3 was so nervous he had no color in his face.  He kept complaining that his stomach hurt “soooo badly.”

Number 4, on the other hand, claimed she wasn’t nervous at all.

I had told both of them that since this was their first meet, they would probably only be swimming in one event, and that it might only be an exhibition swim.

Of course, Number 3 was entered in 4 freaking events.

“MOM!!! You said I would only do ONE THING!!!!”

Oy.

“You’re going to do great.”

To make matters worse, the first event was a relay.  The fact that he had never done one before sent him into even more of a panic.

“What do I do?”

“Where do I go?”

“What if I dive on top of the other person?”

“You’re gonna do great.  Just listen to your coaches, and good luck.”

Well he sucked it up and got down there for his first event.

My parents, my husband and I were all there to witness his first swim and cheer him on.

Here he is, looking up at us, all unsure and scared to death.  It was very hard to watch.  I wondered if this whole swim team thing was a mistake.

But he hung in there, dove in, and….

 Well people, my son kicked some ass.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a rinky-dink little league, I’m 100% aware of that. But my nervous, anxious, nauseous little guy won his first swimming event ever.  And he walked off that dock a different kid.

I spent the rest of the meet trying not to cry.

For more than one reason.

Number 4 skipped happily down to her first event.

But things quickly went downhill from there…

See if you can pick her out…

Her coach tried to persuade her, but then gave up as Number 4 slowly curled up into the fetal position…

 And that began a 30 minute fit of hysterics.

“I JUST COULDN’T MAKE MYSELF DO IT!!!

(huge breath)

MMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

(huger breath)

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!”

I went from being patient, understanding, and supportive to wanting to strangle her in approximately 2 minutes.

I had to walk away from her and leave her rolling around on her towel, screaming to herself.

She eventually regained her composure and joined the rest of us.  I asked her if she still wanted to swim backstroke, to which she replied,

“SURE!”

So my little Sybil again skipped down to the dock.

And she got right in.

Swam down, and skipped right back (properly accessorized).

Success!

Here they are after the meet.  Number 3 ended up with 3 firsts and a second.

Number 4 was very angry that she only got a 5th place ribbon.

So she came home and practiced in our pool.

And then at practice yesterday she asked to swim breastroke in today’s meet.  The only problem is that she doesn’t know how to swim breastroke, and it’s pretty much the most difficult stroke to learn to swim.

So she came home again and practiced in our pool yesterday afternoon.  She didn’t stop until she could swim a legal breastroke.  She learned it in about 15 minutes.

That kid both pisses me off and inspires me all at the same time.

Today, again, promises to be interesting 😉