March Madness

Well, as I sit in a surreal world where Duke lost in the first round loss to Mercer, I have mixed emotions.  I vacillate between denial and anger.  There is, however, one thing that brings a smile to my face.  As we were watching this morning during breakfast (the game came on live at 1:15am Japan time so I DVR'd it), the kids were attempting to rally Duke with some cheers.  Leah, using a blue and white pom pom that I actually got from a Lightning playoff game back in the day when they played at the Thunderdome (yes, that's pre-Tropicana Field), sang a cheer she learned last year during cheerleading:

Go, go get them Blue
Go, go get them White
Go, go get them Blue White!

The best, however, was Aaron's cheer.  Carrying a blue foam Blue Devils pitchfork, he made up his own cheer:

Give me a "D"
Give me a "U"
Give me a "K"
Give me a "silent E"

Now that is a very detailed cheer!  I just wish it had helped.

Just Keep Swimming

For most of the school year, Leah and Aaron have been going to swimming lessons.  They both took group lessons in Virginia, but never progressed very far.  Aaron refused to put his face in the water so I stopped signing him up for lessons.  Leah worked hard but had difficulty coordinating her arm and leg movements together.  Her movements were inefficient so it would tire her out easily so she couldn't swim far.  I tried last year to get her into lessons, but I was on a wait list.  When the opening for private lessons for the kids came up, I grabbed them and didn't look back.  Leah was thrilled.  All summer I had made her stay within reach of me in the pool and she didn't like it.  Aaron was less than enthusiastic but I told him swimming was a life skill he needed to have and lessons were not an optional event.  I think if it were up to Aaron, he'd be happy floating in a life vest.

Leah is excited for the first day of swim lessons.

The outdoor pools here are only open from mid-June to mid-August so the lessons are in the indoor pool at the Fleet Fitness Center on Main Base. Leah and Aaron have lessons twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays after school. It's nice because they each have their own instructor, but their lessons are at the same time.

Leah's had two instructors, both college-aged guys.  The first was Taiga, and currently she has Alex as her instructor.  She likes them both--they are both super-nice.  Leah is highly motivated.  One, she wants to have her freedom in the pool when I take her swimming.  More importantly to her, though, is she wants to go down the water slide and jump off the diving board at the outdoor pool.  She doesn't reach the height requirement so she has to pass the swim test--swimming the entire length of the pool non-stop--in order to do these things.  She has been working hard.

Leah works with Taiga.

Aaron's instructor is Hirofumi, an older Japanese man.  He doesn't speak much English yet he and Aaron seem to have a good rapport.  Probably because I would say 80-85% of Aaron's lessons seem to be mostly playing.  He's still not really swimming although I would say that if he fell in I am confident he could make his way to the side of the pool so that is something.  He lacks motivation and focus.  He has learned to be comfortable putting his head underwater so that is a big step.

First, Hirofumi got Aaron comfortable with his face touching
the water...

...then he got Aaron comfortable with jumping into the water.

Even though it is an indoor pool, the water is still cool.  And as it got cooler outside, the water got colder in the pool too.  It got to where the kids weren't putting forth much effort because by the end of their 30 minute lesson, they would be shaking and chattering because they were so cold.  For Christmas, my dad gave them money for their college accounts like he usually does, but he also gave them some money to buy toys.  I took their toy money and bought them wetsuits instead and it has made all the difference.  Even though it is mid-March, they still need their wetsuits so it has been a good investment.

Leah and Aaron give their wetsuits a thumbs-up.

As I mentioned, Leah has been working hard.  She can now not only swim the length of the pool non-stop, but today she swam the entire length of the pool using the backstroke.  She's very excited for summer to come so the outdoor pool will open and she can slide and jump off the diving board.  Sometimes as a reward for working hard, at the end of swim lessons, Alex will let Leah jump off the diving board.  She likes to jump and yell "cannonball! or "cowabunga!"  She's even progressed in her diving board skills.

Leah loves to jump off the high dive.

Like most things in Leah's life, it's a slow, uphill ride with lots of work, pushing and prodding but then it's a quick downhill ride where she masters lots of things in a short amount of time.  I can't wait to see what she does next week.  I hope Aaron will get motivated to work harder after he sees all the things Leah can do.  It may take until this summer when Leah is sliding and jumping off the diving board by herself while Aaron is stuck with me or Matt to light the fire. 

COWABUNGA!

Quote of the Month: March 2013

Over the last year I've started watching the TV show, Criminal Minds.  Thanks to all the repeats on A&E, I think I'm all caught up on the show.  At the beginning of each show, when the FBI agents are flying to their case, there is always a quote which foreshadows something about the case or the criminal.  The quotes are from a wide variety of people, some of whom I've never heard of before.  There was one a couple weeks ago that I really liked.
 

Marriage is a mosaic you build with your spouse. Millions of tiny moments that create your love story.  - author Jennifer Smith 

I thought it was appropriate for the March quote since today is today is my ten-year anniversary.  As is typical for Matt and me, he is currently deployed and so it is yet another anniversary spent apart.  It's becoming a tradition, just like watching the "highlights" section of our wedding DVD, as the kids and I did tonight after dinner.  Matt got to call from the ship, so that was a nice surprise.  An equally pleasant surprise was the card and "gift" I received from Leah and Aaron this morning. 

Leah has been asking me for days, "How many days until your anniversary?"  When I told her today was the day, she ran into her room and came out with a shoe box colored with crayons and tied with a ribbon.  When I opened it there was a red, heart-shaped card that she wrote and all kinds of "treasures" including, but not limited to:  origami pinwheels, pencils, and a "slingshot" (which is actually some contraption Leah and Aaron created by rubber banding some plastic Fisher Price camping toy pieces together).  It was super-sweet and Leah and Aaron were so happy to share their goodies with me.  I can't wait until Matt comes home and he can see our gifts for himself.