Over Christmas vacation he participated in a Blue and White meet they called it. It was a scrimmage between his team. I was a ridiculous nervous wreck inside but once again put on my happy mom face and worked through it. He was THRILLED. He actually swam in two "races", the 50 free and 100 backstroke. He finished. And when he did I could see his excitement. He finished waaaaaayyyyy behind everyone else. He didn't care. I was very nervous that I would care. You see, I'm a wee bit competitive. OK, maybe more than a wee bit. Maybe a lot competitive. But I impressed my self. Watching him just be a part of the team, finish his races and be excited was ENOUGH for me. Just being real here, I didn't think it would be. I am often told people like my honesty here, so I'm being honest, even if I sound terrible, but I was scared I'd be mortified. Isn't it wonderful when you rise above yourself? I had no idea I had that in me. I just watched him with a smile on my face. It was enough because I know what a huge accomplishment it is for him to even go to practice every day. I know what an accomplishment it is for him to sit through an entire swim meet. I know what an accomplishment it is to get him to swim for 2 hours. It's astounding as a matter of fact.
Since that time there have been away meets, which we are not going to, and a home meet, but with 4 teams. That is just a lot of people. So we actually went to watch that one. He wore his warm up,(see picture above) sat with the team. Told everyone good job, nice race and incorporated himself into the team that way. I sat with him and showed him things during the meet about how things are "done" so he could take it all in, without having to worry about swimming.
Then one day I came into the end of practice to pick him up and they were practicing "starts" and "racing". When I entered the pool it seemed like everyone was standing around, but they were waiting for Daniel to finish his race. People were cheering for him to swim. He was about half way and barely moving. I already knew he didn't really understand the "race" part of it. I have seen him swim hard against his brother. Something about that motivates him to SWIM, he doesn't want his little brother to beat him, so he kicks it into gear. But in this instance, and in the scrimmage, he looked like he was out for a Sunday stroll. It's sort of adorable. But it was clear to me that he had no idea what he was supposed to be doing. Especially when he yelled, "do I have to swim to the wall?" Um yeah...
After that practice I was talking to him about races. How it's different from practice. The only example I could think of about going fast is "the Hare" from Aesop's The Tortoise and the Hare. He loves that story and knows it by heart. He liked the comparison to going super fast like the hare. We have talked about it a few times since then. I was telling my cousin this story yesterday and she said something like, 'you need to find a story with a different moral, like Elmo winning a race, the whole point is that the tortoise wins'. But we were laughing and Beckie was yelling into the phone "BE THE HARE DANIEL" which made me laugh. But I do understand the conflict with the moral, and unfortunately, so does Daniel! So if anyone has any suggestions, please leave a comment. If it is Sesame Street, or some other animated movie, that shows trying your best in a race, that would be the best motivator.
Last night after Zachary's meet, Daniel was riding home with me in the car. He said, "I'm not a tortoise, I am the hare! A tortoise has a very heavy shell that makes him slowwwwww." I was laughing along with him and said "yes it would be hard to swim with that heavy shell!" (again, turtles swim and as far as I know rabbits do not...I need some help here people!) But we were joking and having fun. The last thing he says at night is what he is going to dream about. He said he was going to dream about being the hare.
This morning he came bounding into the kitchen excitedly saying, "I dreamt I was the hare!" But then he looked at me and said "but slow and steady wins the race" with a bit of a question on the end there. I replied that slow and steady wins only the very long races. In a very short race fast fast fast wins, so you have to try to go your fastest. Be the hare. This seemed to satisfy him. He is very excited for tonight. He has proclaimed that he will "Be the hare." What we really want is for him to understand the difference between a race and practice. Which he did not. Todd and I were laughing about all of this on the phone this morning because it really doesn't make any sense at all. It is all conflicting, but Daniel is really enjoying the thought of being the hare. Todd I can't wait to find out what this means to Daniel. Knowing him he'll take it literally and go super fast (for him) and then stop at the end and not finish. Just like the hare. Or he'll try his very best, which is what we want from everyone. Or...who knows?! At the very least, it will be interesting! Seriously, what have I done!?!
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