Jr. Swim Meet

I don't guess I ever mentioned it, what with my blogging hiatus and all, but Clara was on the junior swim team this year. The junior swim team was made up of 4-6 year olds who weren't ready for the regular swim team. Thankfully, after the first couple of days, they made two separate groups because there were so many kids. The younger group had kids that were crying and hadn't really had any experience in the water. Clara was in the more advanced group.

It ran for 9 weeks (the same length as the swim team's season) and practice was every weekday for half an hour a day. She really improved and gained a lot of confidence during those two months. She can swim short distances but still needs a lot of practice.

As the season progressed, the swim coach would move kids up who she thought were ready to compete in the meets. She was about ready to move Clara up but then she had to miss a little over a week of practice because of a bout of swimmer's ear and our school district getting out of school a week later than the district the swim team was in. (They switched to morning practice when school let out.) So when she came back, she had lost a lot of ground and never really did get back to the same level she was at. Which was fine by me. I never really expected her to move up. I was happy with not having volunteer hours, not spending my Saturdays in the heat and not having to purchase a really expensive team swimsuit.

Clara on the other hand asked when she would get to move up almost daily. At the end of the season, they had a party and a junior swim meet so the kids got a small taste of what a swim meet was like. They swam two at a time and Clara got paired with the best kid on the team. He probably beat her by a minute. All of the kids on the swim team, along with all of the parents, stood by the side of the pool and cheered them all on. It was pretty sweet.

Go Clara go!!

At the end, they each got a ribbon.

Here she is with her sweet coach, Stephanie. She was so patient with all of the kids and helped ensure Clara had a great time learning to swim. Chris and I decided that chasing Robert around in that heat with a huge crowd did not sound like fun in the slightest. So in an attempt to make up for not staying for the party, I took Clara to get ice cream afterwards. I asked her if racing was fun and was overjoyed when she said, "No!" I asked her if she didn't want to be on the swim team after all and she said she did but she only wanted to go to practice, not do the swim meets. When I told her she had to go to swim meets, she decided she didn't want to be on the swim team after all. Score!

Sports Camp

Clara attended Sports Camp at church a couple of weeks ago. She was so excited to have Leah and Kate join in the fun. The older kids got to choose between soccer, football, basketball and cheerleading. Being the mean mom that I am, I conveniently forgot to tell Clara that cheerleading was available. Oopsie. So she and Leah chose soccer. I know cheerleading is big right now for little girls, but I think it just adds to the problem of little girls growing up too fast. No judgement. Just my opinion. I want it to be something that she looks forward to doing when she's in junior high (but I'm secretly crossing my fingers that she won't be interested when the time comes).

I didn't think Clara was going to make it all week. When I picked her up the first night, she looked exhausted. She was crying because she didn't know the memory verse and she had a mark on her face where she had gotten hit with a soccer ball. She got hit a couple of other spots too. It was eleventy million degrees outside and she was just a mess of emotions. She woke the next morning saying her legs hurt and she didn't want to go back. She was better by that night though, and thankfully it rained the next two nights so they played inside. She did much better the rest of the week. She learned the memory verse the next day and received a pin on Tuesday for knowing it. Becky and I traded off kids several times throughout the week so we were both able to have some free time and date nights. It was nice.

This picture was taken right after Leah won a cd. She wasn't excited or anything :)

Travis was on their soccer team too. Yay for friends! Clara had a sleepover with Leah on Thursday night. They swam all afternoon on Friday and didn't take a nap. That night at Sports Camp, they played a short game against their coaches and parents got to come cheer them on. I don't think 'game' is the right word for what we witnessed though; it was more like a free-for-all with every single kid on the field running amock. I'm just going to assume she learned some actual soccer skills at some point during the week. Clara and Leah were holding hands a good portion of the game and Travis couldn't seem to stay on his feet.

Clara ended up having an allergic reaction to the fresh cut grass. First her eyes started itching and it probably didn't help matters any when she started rubbing them with her hands. Then she started itching all over and ended up with a few hives as well. As the game came to a close, I gave her some benadryl and splashed some water on her to try and rinse her off. The benadryl hadn't stopped the itching yet, but I think it was starting to make her drowsy as we headed inside for the last few minutes of singing and prizes. She started crying, so I took her to the bathroom to try and rinse her off a little better. Then horror of horrors, Kate won a soccer ball. And then one of the older boys gave Travis the soccer ball he had just won. Clara. lost. it.

I mean, completely lost it. She was a blubbering, itchy, exhausted mess who was unable to contain her disappointment any longer. Oh, the humanity! Her coaches wanted to take pictures with her but she couldn't compose herself long enough to pose for a picture. I was able to convince Kate to let her hold her new soccer ball for a picture and she perked up long enough to snap this quick pic. All in all, Clara had fun at Sports Camp but I was soooooo glad when it was all over.

Champions

Clara finished her first soccer season last Saturday which is good because we were beginning to melt in this summer heat. Her team ended up taking first place. The funny thing is, they messed up on the schedule during the regular season and there were two teams that never played each other and they both went into the playoffs undefeated. And both lost to us in the end.

The last two weeks of the season were playoffs and we played both of the undefeated teams and won both times. Clara's team played so well those last few weeks. I don't remember if I mentioned it or not, but Chris started coaching a few weeks in to the season. The coach was lamenting to him that it would be so nice to have an assistant coach to help and Chris took pity on him and started helping out. He even went the weekend the kids and I were in Abilene. It really helped the team to have a second coach. I think they won every game after Chris started. It's just so hard for one person to direct so many little clueless players. Chris and the other coach started to put the kids in positions that they excelled at which is why I think they ended up winning in the end. There was a sort of order in the way that her team played that the other teams didn't seem to have. The only problem with having her daddy as coach was that Clara wanted to stand by him and hold his hand the whole time.

Gooooooooaaaaaallllll!!

Yesterday morning, 5 people showed up at our house to help Chris repair our fence (that's been leaning since Ike hit 2.5 years ago) and put in a deck. Therefore he wasn't able to join us for Clara's second soccer game.

I was so sad not only because that meant I got to wrangle Robert all by myself, but also because he missed Clara's very first goal! Daddy had told her that he would take her for ice cream when she scored her first goal and, well, the girl loves ice cream.

Before she scored, she came over to me during a break with tears in her eyes and said, "I'm not going to get ice cream." I told her it was ok and she just needed to try her hardest. Well, she got back in there and a minute later, she took the ball all the way from the middle of the field and got it right in. I was completely shocked!

I never thought I would be the kind of person that would really get into her kids' games. I hope that doesn't sound terrible. I knew I would be proud of them and all, but I'm just not a sports fan by any stretch of the imagination and I don't think I've ever really cheered on a team. I'm just not a jump up and down and scream kid of girl. I'm here to tell you that all changed yesterday when my baby was running (the right way) towards that goal. I was jumping up and down with my arms in the air screaming "Go, Clara!!!!" like a crazed mama. It was the most awesome feeling! I was so stinkin' proud of her. Best of all was seeing her cheered on by her coach and the other parents after she made the goal. She was grinning from ear to ear. I told her how proud I was of her and she yelled, "I get ice cream!"

Sorry I have no pictures. I didn't even bother bringing the camera because I knew I would be keeping Robert entertained and off the field the entire time.

Soccer!

That's right, official soccer mom here. I wanted Clara to have experiences other than dance to see if she might be interested in something else, so soccer it is. I've already explained that once she starts kindergarten, she'll have to choose only one extra activity to be in, so I'm interested to see which she chooses or if she decides to try something different. All I know is, I won't be running around like a crazy person all week and weekend to get her to everything. I think having down time with family and dinner together is more important that running everyone ragged and eating on the go. Soccer is interfering with daddy/daughter breakfast, but it's only 8 weeks.

One of the reasons I chose this particular league is because their practice and game is back to back early Saturday morning. I also appreciate that they keep score and have playoffs at the end. I'm not competitive by any means and I could care less how well she does, but Clara seriously needs to work on being a good loser. She is a terrible loser and cries and sulks any time she doesn't win or even when she thinks she may not win. It's embarrassing.

She was pretty clueless on the field, but you can't really blame her. I mean, our home is pretty much a sports-free zone. I bought her a soccer ball two days before her first game just so she'd know what one looks like. Ok, maybe she knew what one looked like, but I at least wanted her foot to have been in contact with one prior to starting day.

She surprised me and was more coordinated than I expected. She did really well. I think she was just really overwhelmed by it all. Running, kicking, coaches, team mates, goals, opposing team, referee.... it's a lot to take in.

I may be getting ahead of myself, but there's a chance she might not get the lesson in losing that I was hoping for. There are two boys on the team that are phenomenal. One had made two goals in the first quarter and the coach was told by the ref that he could only score one more that game. While I understand the reasoning, I felt bad for him. He obviously loves soccer and the boy knew what he was doing. He did make his third goal not too long after and I was afraid he would have to sit out the rest of the game. I was really happy when the coach let him in to play goalie, but you could tell he was itching to get to that ball.

Clara didn't pay too close attention and didn't want in the scuffle for the ball, so she held back for most of the game. She got to play goalie for a little while and she managed to block two goals! I was so proud of her. One did get past her though and she broke down crying immediately. Everyone was encouraging her, telling her it's ok and good job but she just knew she hadn't done what she was supposed to. It broke my heart to see her so upset but that's what I'm talking about with the whole losing thing. She had to come sit with us for a few minutes to compose herself. After a good cry she got right back in there. I'm so glad she's got some of her dad in her; she's got spunk. Had it been me at 5, I would've been begging to go home and never come back.

At one point, she was running and I didn't see how it happened, but she fell flat on her face. It was a really good fall. She started crying, so the coach helped her up and walked her over to us to calm down. Again, she ran right back in to the game. She's such a trooper.

Her coach was so great. His son is on the team and this is his first experience with being a soccer dad and coach. He was very encouraging and learned all of the kids names quickly. I really like him. Every week they will have a different word that they learn and at the end of the game, the coach chooses one player that he feels exemplified that trait and they receive a medal. The word for week one was team mate. Guess who got the medal?

Ok, so my child isn't getting the lesson in humility that I was hoping for :) I really am proud of her. She is such a fantastic little person, inside and out. One little girl started crying when she didn't get a medal and Clara went over to her, bent down (the girl was about a foot shorter than Clara), put her hand on her arm and told her, "It's ok, you played good, maybe you'll get a medal next time." My sweet girl really does know what it means to be a good team mate.