Swim meet weekend

Parker had a two day swim meet this weekend. He competed in 8 events and did well in all of them. One of his pals from the team was there and did all the same events, in mostly the same heats so they had a great time.  I was training to be a swim meet official so it was the first meet where Parker was on his own having to get to his events by himself. He didn't miss a single one and was even wearing his goggles in all of them. I was very impressed. Many parents say their kids aren't able to be that independent until they are 12 or 13 so I told him many times how proud I was that he not only did well in his races, but navigated the day so well too.  He got 6 ribbons for various places and got three B times. This was his first long course (50 meter pool) so it was a bit tougher than the short course events where he can push off the wall again at 25 meters.  But he did great, even on the 100 meter breaststroke. And didn't get disqualified for anything.  I stood on the side of the pool for 4-5 hours each day watching kids swim and learning all the rules. It was tiring and my back killed but it made the time go faster than just waiting for Parker.

They played catch in between events.

Each day when he got home, he organized his trophies and medals. He labeled them all and put them in some strange order.  He's already looking forward to the next swim meet on May 10th.