the goat

With the swimmer once again swimming, it appears that the moody teenager has been drowned, at least temporarily.   She is back to her happy self. She is loving being back in the pool, even though she said she didn't miss it I think what she didn't miss was the cattiness amongst the girls  at the old club, it was quite ridiculous. The high school team is actually a team.

Girl has always been recognised for her academic strengths but now she is being noticed for her strength in the water too. No bitchy comments because she is better than someone else just recognition for her contribution to the team. She says that people she doesn't now come up to her at school and ask her if she is Lily and then say something nice to her regarding her place on the swim team. She was called a goat lord the other day....yeah, me either but apparently in this day and age its a compliment. 

G=greatest. O=of.  A=all.  T=time  Apparently they were sad sad sad last year. lol 

This compliment was paid to her following a meet where the Bulldogs girl team beat the other girls 114- 53. and in all honestly she had an awful lot to do with it. They remain undefeated but next week could be the end of that as they are up against a school with a lot of her old team mates on.  One day at a time goat lady. 

She still finds it hard to fit in with freshman as she finds them very very immature.  And socially she isn't the best but has worked very hard in the last few weeks to overcome a lot of her unsociable ways. She has no patience at all for stupidity and I can't blame her. My only concern with her hanging out with the older kids now is BOYS! So far she has no interest what so ever. She is going to her first party today. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go...I strongly suggested she did. Once she had made up her mind she even asked if a new bathing suit was a possibility as it's a pool party and it seemed like a fair request so she got one, actually since the whole matching bikini thing doesn't happen anymore she got a new bottom??? I might not have been in such a rush for her to go if the party was at night but its this afternoon.

All in all the she seems so much happier and content. Her work load has picked up exponentially but she still manages it without trouble and when she doesn't have practice and meets everyday it will be easier. That said there is chatter about the next set of activities and what club she should join. Colleges require a well rounded child and that includes clubs too...who knew?

swimming. again. all the time.

Oh yes, now I remember why we gave this up. Because we had too because I could not be in all these places at once and do all the thins I had to do, that's right. sigh

But this is high school, I don't need to sit on the pool deck and keep vigil. I can leave her.

Ahh but I can't leave Rosie at home alone that is called bad shitty parenting and you go to jail for it, rightfully so.

She is an absolute rockstar in the pool, a freak. She has been out of the water for a little over 12 months, she is swimming with a lot of club swimmers and she is the top female swimmer on the team. Yes, really. I was shocked. She was shocked and her coach was floored. She ripped that pooled to shreds and she wasn't even trying that hard.

In her first meet  one of she events was a 400m relay and she lapped a swimmer 3 times. I wish I had done everything in my power to have never taken her out of the pool. She is that good. She has only lost 3 seconds but her endrance is down. Girl won everysingleevent! Every damn one!

Not even sure what I am going to do at this point but it is all up to her, bottom line.

We were at an indoor pool. what are those? who knew we had them here? yuckems

those distinctive hands

Fly baby, fly. (lighting and shadows indoors was a new set of challenges.)

still got it

still the same pre event jitters.

the goggles fix

waiting waiting waiting

gone. being out of the water has not helped her scoliosis, at all

those hands again

tearing it up  again

The strangest backstoke flags I have ever seen. that any of the swimmers had ever seen.

It is good to see her back in the water and she is enjoying it. Her academic load so far is OK even with her college courses, usually they get hit so hard the first couple of weeks.

off you go little ones, to the halls of learning

The alarm went off at a new time today, it went off at 5.30. This is going to be our new, "up and at 'em" time for the next bazillion years because High School starts at some God forsaken time and Lily now attends High School. It's all rather shocking really.

She is taking the bus, she didn't want to take it today, her first day, she wanted me to drive her but I was worried that if she didn't go on the bus on her first day that she might lose her privilege or something silly so I delivered her to the bus stop at 6.10am for a bus that was slated to show up bewteen 6.18 and 6.38 am. yawn. It showed at 6.24 and she arrived at school very eaarly so I am hoping it will come a little later once the kinks are worked out. Rosie comes with us as I cannot just leave her home alone.

We came home and had breakfast and then got Rosie all ready for school. She suddenly became very worried at the fact that for the first time she would be attending school alone. She never spent any time with her sister at school but she gleaned great comfort knowing she was there. All her old anxieties bubbled to the surface and the tears flowed. She was convinced she would need her and nothing I could say or do would change her mind. Thankfully once we finally got her into her classroom seeing all her friends calmed her fears and she found her courage.

First time in her new uniform...yes that is a uniform

nervous nelly covers it well with a million dollar smile

I worried thought about Lily all day. I managed a quick text from her and she said she was fine but it wasn't until she got home which is another complete and utter frezy that I knew for sure that she had had a good day. I picked her up at the bus, dropped her at the house, ran to get Rosie and then Lily met us in the driveway and we hauled it to swimming. Sigh, she was only 30 minutes late. How do I clone myself? Both girls had a good first day and things can only get better from this point out As for this 5.30 am nonsense...I think I might start driving her. THe 20 minutes that we spend waiting at the bus stop can be 20 minutes she spends asleep.

swim mum

Lily decided the day that i told her she wouldn't be able to swim for a while that it was OK and she would try out for her High School swim team. Funny how something that seemed so far away all those months ago is already here and I am once again chauffering to and from practice. She signed up for the team at orientation, mentioned she a previous club swimmer, and was duly noted as such. Other kids that are in her high school know her from her club. While we were in England her HS had the "free physical" day when you could get your physical done for free that you need to get done for the mandatory health insurance. so she missed that opportunity so meet the swimmers so she was thrown into the mix poolisde on Monday morning.

I drove her to the pool and said see you at 11. I didn't think for a minute she would want me anywhere near the pool especially with squirt tagging along but she looked mortified and said, but mum, where do I go and and and. We walked on to the deck together and spotted her coach who greeted her warmly. I retreated and returned later with camera in hand, asked permission to take photos. I stayed completey out of the way and got really crummy shots but I wasn't about to piss anyone off on the first day.

 Later on the coach asked me to take photos for the team and gave me free reign.

anticipation

a natural

her form remains great, her times need work

she went straight into lane 1

my favourite shot

my favourtie stroke

alien

loving being back in the pool

no time to think about anything, just getting it done

giving her all

the other lane are the swimmers that made the team but aren't club swimmers....oy, wouldn't know where to start.

Lily said it is really good being back in the pool. Her academic load is going to be heavy this year but I would like to see if she can do it full time, not just on the school team. High school is tough, teen yrs are tough and you can't get in to trouble when you have to treat your body like a temple and when you don't have time to do anything other swim and study. I might sacrifice life in order to get them back in the pool again, ong term to keep them both out of trouble it would be worth it

milestones

Milestones don't typically faze me I tend to just roll with them. I'm not a very sentimental person so if they involve getting rid of something like a crib I usaully can't wait for them to happen. That said I am having a complete cow over Lily going to highschool. Not that it can be changed or stopped and not that I would if it were possible.

Highschools are dangerous. Almost every single day here in Miami a highschool encounters some sort of problem that needs the police. I'm not throwing her to the wolves and I am not sending her to just any high school but the statistics don't lie and they are unnerving. I know it is preparing her for life but I can think of better ways of doing that. She will encounter more drugs in the next 4 years than most adults ever did. Truth. She will probably be placed on "lockdown" at least 4billion times, Rosie has already encountered that one. Im sure she will be able to teach me a thing or 2 about weapons and the drugtrade. It's a scary world people and not one I want her to witness but the unhusbnad refuses to let me move.

So as I get ready to dive into these waters I have been looking back and the little one I see should not be heading off to places so harsh.

4.5 yrs. big sister day

5 yrs

big

14 months

16 months

15 months

4.5 yrs

6 months

I never have a problem letting go, its important to let her go, Im having a problem allowing others to keep her safe. Miami isn't a safe place. Urghh. I truly trist her, she has never given me a reason not to and until she breaks my trust I have to but others, how do you trust others?