Swimmers

I love swimming.  I love that my niece and nephew are into swimming.  I love that my kids love swimming too.  Maybe its a feeling of reliving my youth, or having opportunities that I didn't have as a kid - (which was long before the hugely successful Eureka Area Swim Team).   But I always wanted to be a swimmer myself.  I think my sisters did too.  We would have been good at it, I think.  At least that's what I tell myself.  Luckily I have little fish for kids - they love the water.  So what may or may not develop into years of swimming for them, at least I get to spend some time now, watching them in the pool.

Campbelle has been swimming since about 8 months old.  From the very start, she would giggle and laugh in the water.  Always smiling, always having fun.  5 years later - it is still the same thing.  Whenever her head comes up for air, there's always a smile on it.  Almost like it's her second home, she's so comfortable and so confident in the water.  Right now she is in Pre4 - which is the last level before she could start swim team at age 6.  She is working on all her different strokes.  The backstroke is her favorite, and she's really quite speedy at it.  Although I don't think she knows she's fast, she told me once she just likes how the backstroke 'moves on me.'

Christian has really developed confidence in the water the past year.  Unlike his sister, Christians' love of water has been later to develop.   He too also started swimming at 8 months old.  But he could have taken it or left it.  Never wildly emotional either way (which if you know him, that's just how he is with everything).  The past year he's been swimming without a parent in the water - and it has been really good for him to develop that independence.  He's had great teachers that have made swimming fun for him, while challenging him all the time.  He's fiercely serious about what he does - and such a good listener, he will do anything the teacher asks of him (even if he doesn't want to).  He's in Pre2 and is starting to do little stretches of swimming on his own.   He too is developing such confidence in the water - it's fun to see that happen in him.

Who knows how long swimming will last in the Brenne household.   But as long as the kids love it this much, Leif and I will continue to sit along the sidelines offering cheers and praise.