Daniel Swims

Last summer, we opted to have Daniel participate in swim team with his brother and sisters.  However, there are those things that, as a parent, you can't simply decide that it's time for your child to do.  Daniel was straight-up NOT interested in becoming a swimmer.  After several weeks of tears and screams during swim team practice every morning, the same through private swim lessons, and again anytime that Joshua or I took him in the pool to work with him, we admitted defeat.

And the rest of his siblings swam beautifully the entire season.

Fast forward a year.  We decided again to have Daniel participate in swim team with his brother and sisters.  Again we were met with his stout resistance.

Thankfully, Daniel loves attention.  As the youngest child, he believes that the entire world is here to applaud him as he entertains us.  He's also an extrovert who befriends everyone in his path.  So.  The coaches adore his nutty antics and his teammates encouraged him every step of the way and the kid finally decided that perhaps this swimming stuff wasn't so bad after all.

During the first meet, Joshua and I stood and basically held our breath to see if he would jump in the pool for his race.  He did!  I mean, the start buzzer sounded, and he jumped in without looking back and made it all the way across the pool.  Dead last, but zero hesitation.

The next morning, he fell apart at the very idea of jumping in the pool and swimming.  Since we have meets each week on Wednesdays, and he balked at swim practice every day between the meets, Joshua and I again stood on the sidelines and crossed our fingers as the swimmers in his event lined up.  The start buzzer sounded and he jumped in, no problem!

But.

Each time he would grab the lane ropes to take a breath, he'd talk to the people cheering him on.  He'd smile at them and look around.  He went from 2-ish minutes to swim his 25 meters to 3-ish minutes.

Swim practice from there on out was a piece of cake.  No reservations, all systems go.  After practice, he'd slip into the pool house and hang out with any lifeguard who wasn't on the stand.  He turned up his charm to full tilt with his swim team coaches and was dubbed Mini Coach Dan.  And basically basked in the attention of All The People in his fan club, despite the fact that he was working backward.

It was the third meet that completely undid me.

He was the first to splash into the pool at the starting buzzer.  I was at the end of the pool he was swimming towards cheering for my little guppie just as loudly as I could.  He got to the middle of the pool (finally) and grabbed onto the lane ropes to catch his breath.  His feet were still kicking, so I guess maybe he thought he was still swimming?  His coaches were cheering for him and telling him to "Go! Go! Go!" His teammates were cheering for him and encouraging him.  The Whole Swimming World was focused on this little blonde imp in the middle of the pool.

And he was waving to them!

But wait, it gets better.

He spied me at the finish line and smiled and waved.

Then blew me a kiss.

The timer was still running.  The other kids were already all finished.  And here's my cutie, blowing me kisses. 

His time went up by another entire minute.

Competitiveness is clearly not one of his personality traits.

Fast forward a few weeks and at the last meet, he wound up in a heat by himself (which may have been intentional or may not have been, I haven't bothered to ask) and his time improved by over 2 minutes.

We're just so proud.