June 7

Every Wednesday is a theme day at swim practice, and today was Rubber Ducky Day. The kids were so excited!

Their coach is the best at making things fun and going over the top.

Little ducks.

BIG duck.

Kids with a duck! (Daisy is in the pink long sleeves, and Caleb is hiding behind her. You can also see Lily's bright pink cardigan and Eli on the edge.

It was hard work keeping them off of this thing!

There's coach, even dressed like a duck!

Daisy made some real progress in her swimming today. She is totally capable, but is paralyzed by fear of failure. Luckily, her coach has the patience of a saint and is working slowly with Daisy while I sit on my hands.

She was in the water and went underwater, so victory!

One of the games they played was balancing ducks on their kickboards as they swam laps. They also tried to swim laps while balancing the ducks on their heads, but that was significantly harder.

Lily played with her critters and I drank my coffee. It was nice.

At the end of practice, Daisy had progress to show me. She was able to jump in to the water and swim to the end of the pool! Granted, it wasn't even half the length of the pool, but it was progress. 

Did I mention I have bribed her? I promised her that the first time she tries to swim from one end to the other - even if she has to hold on 10 times - I will immediately take our whole family out for ice cream. The first time she swims in a race, she will get a bomb pop. And the first time she swims the length of the pool without holding on, I will make her a cake that looks like a cow. I confess: I was scrambling with that last one because she was totally unimpressed with all of the bribes I was offering. But the team mascot is the cows, and she liked the cow cake. What have I gotten myself into?