My People

The girls have been off school for the last week and half, first for conferences, then for their February school break.  With a new work from home schedule the obligation juggling was difficult for me.  My parents took Ava and Amelia to visit their cousins Alivia and Anjeli (and their parents, of course) in Minnesota on Thursday, then John met them and drove them on to South Dakota to visit Grandma Marilyn and the Petersens Friday and Saturday.

I'm not going to lie, the break was really nice.  John and I had a pre-Valentines date night on Thursday that was just so lovely. Friday night I cooked for my parents, Saturday I had TWO indulgent meals, breakfast at Mullets with a good friend and dinner out on Saturday night with some of my running friends. I watched seven episodes of "House of Cards" I tidied the house, did some laundry, did my long run.  Things stayed where I put them. It was so quiet. I slept past 7:00am two mornings in a row. 

Last night my excited, over tired, road weary people arrived home.  The girls were a little fussy, John didn't feel very well.  It was loud, the house was a mess in about 7.2 seconds.  There's quite a bit of laundry to be done. But I couldn't be any more grateful to have my people home, where they belong.  As nice as the break was for me (and it really was) I was lonely without them.

Photo courtesy of Grandma Marilyn.... taken at Valentines dinner in South Dakota Friday night....

Apple... Not Far from the Tree

For me, there's something about a race t-shirt.... I like to run races for lots and lots of reasons, but a race with a good t-shirt, icing on the cake. John and I are running the Leprechaun Chase next month in part because it comes with a good shirt. But what makes a race shirt good isn't always the shirt itself.... It's the reminder of a personal best, the sense of accomplishment, the fun weekend...  

Ava and Amelia already understand this at their young age.  Ava has worn her Sectional Swim Meet t-shirt every.single.day since Sunday.  I have washed it twice. She's so proud of that state qualifier! 

Amelia is also routinely sporting her Sectionals t-shirt.  She was one of very few 6 year olds to participate and our competitive girl loved the intensity of that event.  Almost as much as she likes to binge watch "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" on what used to be my iPad. 

In the working from home files.... yesterday our neighbors dogs got out and were romping through our backyard.  I thought Orbit was going to lose his mind.  He was making growling noises I've never heard.  He SOUNDED ferocious.... This went on for 20 minutes or so until the neighbors could successfully round up their hounds. All that work, protecting our home and his people really tuckers a pup out....

ST-Q

Sunday was the girls Sectional Swim Meet in Waukee - an epic 11 hour event (we were only there for 7 of those 11 hours) where the Y swim teams from our area come to qualify their swimmers for the state swim meet.  To swim at state you have to swim a Q time at sectionals. (But to swim at USA Regionals you can swim a Q time anytime during the season. Got that?) 

Amelia is 6, swimming in the 8 and under age group and was no where near qualifying in any of her events.  She did, however, achieve Phelpsian status with her team, swimming every event she was eligible to swim in a meet during the course of the season. She was one of very few 6 year olds who participated in Sectionals- she was awesome, cutting time in every event but one.... I love watching that girl swim - she is just fierce, all attack.

Ava was heartbreakingly close to a Q time in the 100 breast, but not reasonably close in any other event. She has been focused on qualifying for state in the 100 breast for months.  She swims with grace, almost looking like she's dancing in the water, all long lines and fluid movement. 

Since the event was such a long slog, we skipped warm ups and kept the kids at home. Our warm up consisted of hanging out with Orbit on the couch, watching the Olympics and John zipping the kids to our local Y to practice starts for 20 minutes....

When we got to the event Ava was so, so excited/nervous/pumped up... She let me snap a quick picture, then took off with her friends....

Amelia hung a little closer....

Ava's first event was the 50 breast stroke.  Her previous personal best time was 52.2 seconds.  She needed a 47.0 to qualify for state, so we didn't think it was possible. Short version, she shot off the blocks and had an amazing swim, beating all the girls in her heat by half a pool length. Her time flashes up and she has qualified for state by .05 seconds. An unbelievable time cut for a 50 meter event. And yes, I'm THAT mom.  I took a picture with my phone when they posted the results.....

She missed qualifying in the 100 breast (the event she had been rocking' all season) by 1 second and was pretty disappointed.  Our resilient girl rallied quickly to celebrate being a squeaker state qualifier.  I would have been proud of her no matter what.... she has worked so hard, swimming 90 minutes a night in this cold, cold dark winter and made such great progress. But I am just so happy she has seen a glimpse of a reward for all that hard work - to have some success at something she cares so much about... It makes my heart swell.

All I really want for both girls is for them to find a sport/activity that they connect to, that gets their ya-yas out, that makes them happy...Maybe it's swimming, maybe it's something else.  But I am really enjoying the part of parenting that watches them care, set goals, work hard and celebrate progress in a sport. All the while, keeping this excellent column firmly in mind. Because it is so true, it is really hard for me to keep my feedback to a minimum - but in the end, I just love watching them play.

Screen Time

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends NO MORE than 1-2 hours per day of screen time. And that the screen time should be high quality programming.  But the AAP is not currently living through this brutal winter. The girls are swimming at least 3 nights a week, dance, baton, reading, knitting, rainbow looming…. but I'm not sure we've ever had a stretch where they've spent this much time in front of a screen, day in, day out.  The current screen of choice is our iPads, the "quality programming" is binge watching all 8 seasons of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." Yup, proud parenting moments abound.