Swimming

Sofia is really doing well at swimming.  She still goes every Wednesday after school for her swim club practice and this term she has started swimming on Thursday afternoons during the school day.  I think swimming with her class with her PE teacher whom she loves has really improved her confidence.  Her swimming group on Wednesday has only older children in it so while I could tell she was doing great she often felt like she wasn't doing as well becuase the other kids could swim better.  I kept telling her that she was doing great and that it wasn't surprising the other kids were swimming a little better b/c they are older and bigger than she is.  It didn't really make an impact on her.  Since she started swimming on Thursdays with only the kids in her class she has really started to blossom.  She loves swimming now and you can see how much better she is getting just because she enjoys it.  On Wednesday we went to her swim club practice and she was excited to get in the pool.  Her coach split her team into two lanes and had them swimming relay races, once swimming on their stomachs and once on their backs.  You could really see Sofia's competetive nature kick in.  The first lap that Sofia raced was on her stomach.  She had a little bit of a head start over the girl she was racing with and was going strong but then about half way she started to slow down until she caught sight of the other girl next to her.  It was funny to see her kick in those little legs and go for it.  She lost that race by a hair.  She was not to lose the second lap though.  The second lap was swimming on her back and her relay team didn't give her any lead on the other girl so they started even and Sofia took off.  I couldn't believe how well she swam nevermind that the girl she was competing against was almost 2 years older (as Sofia said, "she is seven, almost 8!") than she is and much taller!  I've very proud of my little swimmer.