Get Moving, Part II

I don't really like playing outside in the snow but today I dug out my snowpants (still had the tags on from when I got them...I think while pregnant with Audree) and took the kids tobogganing. Usually I stay home with the baby while Rene goes with the older ones but his schedule has been so busy lately that there hasn't been any time. Luckily Lucienne LOVES outside. If she sees anyone putting on anything that remotely looks like they might be going out she runs to the front to get her stuff. She can put hats, mitts and boots on all by herself (many days those are the only pieces of clothing she's wearing at all) and can even kind of get her coat on in an interesting fashion statement kind of way.

So, the girls got off the bus, I told them to not get out of their stuff but that we were all going sledding. Evelyn pulled Lucienne most of the way on our walk to the hill (about 10 minutes from home) and Amelia pulled the other sleds. I'm sure we looked like a modern day Norman Rockwell painting.

I forgot how fun it is. It helped that today wasn't freezing cold and there wasn't an icky wind or snow/sleet/rain falling.

Lucienne's first run had her laughing at the bottom  She refused to get out of the sled at all so she got to ride down AND up the hill. Thankfully we didn't have any wipe-outs with her or snow in the face so overall, good first experience. Amelia had a couple good tumbles, she always managed to get going backwards and Audree only had a couple of meltdowns. Overall, good time had by all. Next time I might even get more ambitious and bring our chubby dog...she also desperately needs to have some good winter exercise and she LOVES the snow.

Amelia's the only one who opted to continue with swimming lessons. Audree wanted a break and Evelyn is going to do gymnastics. When Amelia said she'd like to continue I jumped on that right away - not very often this girl likes participating in organized sporting activities. Turns out she's in a class full of boys, including the instructor. When I saw that I braced myself for the car ride home...and it came. She was not impressed with the dynamics of her class, not impressed at all. This level also seems to be much more hands off in terms of technique and focusing more on increasing endurance. She swam lengths for most of the 1/2 hour class. Again, not impressed.

It probably didn't help that she was pooped from sledding, or that she had hurt her leg walking Paris yesterday but I'm hoping that next week she'll still be looking forward to going. It's going to be a long 8 weeks if I have to coerce her to go every night.

I'd really like to come up with ideas of family exercising as opposed to paying and enrolling in "organized" sporting teams. It will get Rene and I moving and not always spectating, it will get the girls working together, and lets be honest, it will be way cheaper. We have a great gym space at the church that is virtually unused. A good friend of mine came up with the idea of organizing a co-op sort of rotation of sporting at the church. We would pick a sport, find someone (aka Rene) who could teach the rules and general skills and have them play it for 8 weeks or so. 30 minutes of skill then an hour or so of playing. Floor hockey, soccer, basketball, baseball, volleyball (maybe when the kids get older). We would just need to get a few families to commit and I think it would be a fabulous (and cheap...did I already mention that?) way of getting the kids exposed to different sports.

Some kids are naturally active and for others I think it's a learned skill to want to get up and kick around a ball. The key will be to keep it fun and hopefully we'll get all the girls on board.

Like Fishes in Water

Yesterday marked the end of this session's swimming lessons. We opted for twice a week which seemed a little hectic but the girls improved so much faster. They all did wonderful. It's kind of neat seeing where Amelia is at now (being able to swim the length of the big pool) versus Audree's level (which is where Amelia started).

Amelia loves doing things she's good at (don't we all) and swimming is one of those things. She loves going, she puts her heart into it, and can see how much she's improving. I wish she would put that same heart into other areas that don't come as easily but that I know she could excel at (guitar comes to mind...I feel like that's a common thread in these blogs). If there is water around, Amelia is in it. If we're at someone's house with a pool she is in it the whole time. Even other parents have called her a fish. Chalk up another way she's like her Aunt Erica.

Audree started lessons not being able to put her head under and wanting to cling to her instructor the whole lesson. We told her if she put her face in the water we'd buy her goggles like her sisters. She did it, we bought them then forgot to bring them for the next lesson...which made that lesson pointless. She sulked the whole time and refused to do anything. That week, Paris chewed them and that was the end of the goggles. But, with the little pool in the backyard she gained confidence and little by little she was putting more of her head/face into the water. By the end of the lessons she was swimming forward with her whole head under. I think she's just as excited about this feat as we all are...so cute!

This set of lessons was Evelyn's first time in the big pool. Since she's 6 we took her out of the "animal" named lessons and put her into the "numbers". She was the most nervous of them all at the start. The water is way deeper (I wasn't even sure she'd be able to touch in the shallow end but it goes up to her chin...as long as there are no splashes or waves she's okay!) and much colder. Her endurance and stroke greatly improved but most of all her confidence sky-rocketed. She's able to jump into water now without being able to touch the bottom and swim back to the edge.

I love watching the girls learn and seeing the pride in their faces as they accomplish new things. Up to this point they've been doing swimming lessons once a year but I want to keep the momentum so I've signed them up again in the fall. We might take a break through the winter because the thought of being wet in the cold is not very motivating (plus the rec centre's parking lot is super windy and poorly designed so the walk to and from the car is torture in the winter).