Bring Your Earplugs...

Well, the meet was very fun, and M3 did very well. She came in first in her heat in the freestyle and second in the backstroke. I was totally surprised! She beat her friends who have been swimming "competitively" much longer. So the competitive streak in me yells, "Woohoo!! Way to kick their butts!!" And the rest of me is just glad she had a blast, despite the fact that we were there for a total of SIX hours!! Not counting the two hours it took to drive there and back...ugh. And she had a fever over 102 on Saturday, so I thought we wouldn't end up going at all.

Unfortunately, she was disqualified in her freestyle because she touched the floor when she tried to flip turn, but she really didn't seem to care which is good. The relays went well, too, and it's just so fun to see them out there splatting into the water one after the other. Here's one of the main parts of the fun for her:

P.S. I need some major yoga after sitting on those bleachers for the better part of six hours!! Ow.

First Swim Meet

M3 is participating in her first swim meet ever this Sunday!! She's in four events: 50m free style, 50m backstroke, 100m free relay, and 100m medley relay. She's pretty excited, so I hope she has a good experience. I'm sure she will; she gets to hang out with her friends for four hours straight or something like that (and I think they kinda give ribbons for everything). I get to sit in a pool room with its outstanding acoustics! (I'll bring the earplugs...and my book.)

This was her idea, by the way. We weren't as excited about the huge time commitment for an 8-year old, but she is really having fun. So as long as it stays that way I guess we'll stick with it!

Uh oh...

I think I need reading glasses.

I shoulda known

Since I am apparently one of the only people in the world who liked Michelle Obama's dress, how funny that the woman who made it is actually from around here!

Alien beings have invaded our house!

Conference Update

So, a quick update on school conferences:

I wasn't too worried about M4's conference. I mean, c'mon, it's Kindergarten!! I've been more worried about his socialization, since he is cautious and reserved. But his conference was glowing. He is such a good kid at school; something I've witnessed firsthand because I'm volunteering in his room (after a lengthy wait for my background check to clear!!). And he is definitely coming out of his shell as far as socialization; he may not be the most fearless kid in unfamiliar situations or with unfamiliar people, but he's definitely getting better.

M3's conference was fine, too. My concern with her is math. She started disliking it in 1st grade with the onset of "time tests." In time tests, you have to complete a certain number of problems in a certain time (e.g. 100 problems in 5 minutes). Well, turns out she's not fast at math. So she lost her confidence and in the last few years has tended to say things like, "I'm not good at math," and "Math is my worst subject," etc. Testing at school shows she's well above average when it comes to math ability. I think she just needs to get her confidence back and have some success. So I talked to her teacher about it, because I'm really worried she'll internalize that "girls can't do math" thing. Fortunately, Mr. C. doesn't emphasize time testing. I think showing her the graph of where she charted on math testing compared to other kids gave her a boost, too. The other day she came home and said, "I think I like math now." Let's hope it sticks!

Wheeeeeeee!

I parked the car in the garage last night!! Because there was a wintry mix forecast for overnight, I shoved the bikes, etc. aside. And lo and behold, this morning at 5:30am when I left to teach yoga, there was no frozen stuff on my windshield, no fogged up windows! Oh it was lovely...