Claire’s been working really hard in all of her classes; I don’t know which she likes (will like) the most, but she was really excited last Friday for swimming. The week before Mama and I got to watch her attempt to pass up and graduate from her beginning freestyle class. She was pretty close, and the deck manager gave her and her teacher some pointers to work on. Claire and I discussed them all week, and she went into Friday’s lesson with them in the forefront of her thinking.

She got up there and didn’t a helluva job. The deck manager wanted to see her try again before the class was over, so both deck managers talked and they decided she was ready to move forward! Claire was so excited to ring the bell and get her medal. She is not moving into Silver class where she will learn advanced freestyle before moving towards breast and backstroke. By next summer, she should be on the team!

Claire swims on Wednesdays. I usually pack her bag and get everything ready but recently we were on a cleaning spree. Mom was washing suits and figuring out what stayed for class and what went on vacation. When I got up, her bag looked packed. Her towel was already folded in the bag and her wrap was sitting across the top of the bag. We were running late from karate (check the punch my kid in the face post below!), and we got there with two minutes to spare. When we cut it this close, she changes in the truck of my truck. Well, we pulled everything out for the suit, and there was NO Suit!

I immediately called Mama, and she said of course there wasn’t a suit because I [me not her] didn’t pack it! She told me to just run in, buy one, and get her into the water. I dragged her naked, only in her wrap, inside. The manager gave me a list of sizes and then the swim coach came over. I quickly asked what size, he looked down at her, and called out a number. I quickly picked the really cool green and black designed suit and knew I was going to be paying an arm or leg for my first born. He scanned the suit, I handed him my card, and she ran into the locker room.

The photo below doesn’t do it justice, but she loves her new, sleek competition suit.

Recently two pretty cool things happened. I was off to Maricopa Tech on May 19th and Donna took Claire to karate. Afterward Claire told Mama that she got a tip on her karate belt. Donna was surprised, but then Claire showed her. Donna completely missed Claire graduating a level, which I thought was hilarious. Claire’s now running around waiting to be tested again since the first three levels don’t necessarily go in order, so you can do one or another first or second… etc. Each day she wants to know when her next tip test will be, and I encourage her but I don’t know their schedules.

Then also in gymnastics, we’ve waited for her to graduate from this level for sometime. One week we thought she was done, but then she wasn’t. The next week she was tested, and then her instructor had her do things for the next level. She did really well and passed! She moved from the 10am course to the 8:30am course. We didn’t realize the next level is now 45 minutes long, so she gets more instruction time which works well. Then it’s great for an early brunch.

Here’s a shot of her getting her gymnastic medal, and, of course, you can tell how excited and happy she is.

Hey you! Yeah, you. The owners of Karate clubs, gymnastic gyms, indoor pools. Yes, the people who own and run the places where you want us to bring our children. The places where you want us to spend our money. I got an idea for You. Wireless. Free WiFi! Tonight I was at Karate with Claire, and there are five networks I can hit from there. They are all locked. At SwimKidsUSA they have a network IN THE BUILDING and NO Access!! Nada. Bummer.

I bet you’d get more business if you had these things set up and turned on. Most businesses have internet now, so add a wireless modem for less than $100.00. Open it to customers (you can password it if you want, and just tell customers the password. Change it monthly if you want.) If I convince one more parent to bring their kid here because they can work while the kid takes classes, I just made you about $100.00 a Month! They do one class at a place like SwimKidsUSA, they’re stupid not to add another for half price, which bumps them to almost $100. This is monthly, guys! Consider it. I know I’d sit there longer and let my kid play more, get her more into your programs so she wants to take more classes, which makes me give you more of my money. Think about it.

Last summer Claire graduated from survival II swim lessons and entered Bronze Jr level where she began her final training to graduate from survival swim school. She started out really well and excelled by Halloween, but then she began to regress. Her teacher, Miss Maribel, and we were concerned about how she was doing, as she’d have some weeks when she was really on and then weeks where she was a nightmare. Eventually she switched teachers, lesson times, and pools to see if the change would “jump start” whatever was going on. I also stopped sitting in on her lessons. Now I’d go out by the reception area and read, grade or watch TV. Because her lessons were after the regular work day, Donna could come sometimes and would sit in the pool area. She said Claire was doing better in the large pool with Miss Elena at a later time when there weren’t so many students.

Last week Claire was told to wear her shirt, and she did very well going back and forth down the pool. After class Miss Elena told me to have Claire wear pants this week and maybe she could test again. I’d heard this story about half a dozen times since early November but I was still eager because I’d seen her really grow over the last month.

Mama was able to come tonight and we brought the camera and video camera. Claire did the length pretty well for Mr James, the deck manager but she still needed to prove herself a little more. Mr James asked Miss Elena to work with her on some of the basic Silver Jr things (which she’d need to do in the next level), and Claire did very well there. Miss Elena said Claire’s balance in the pool with the new techniques was better than some of her regular students! Eventually Claire convinced Mr James she was ready to move on, and a huge weight was off my shoulders when he finally nodded in agreement that she was safe in the water, could get to the side in a panic situation full dressed, and she was ready to move up to the Silver Jr level where they begin to teach the student proper swimming form, which will eventually lead to the swim team! Donna and I shot several pics on Flickr here, and we also have video to edit and upload later.

Claire and Miss Elena are going to continue on this journey together as Miss Elena agreed to teach Claire Silver Jr as well, at least until summer.

Claire’s 4 in a few weeks here, but the other day we were forced to give her her own Google Calendar. She’s accumulated enough weekly events that we’ve moved her to her own calendar. Haha yes, with Karate now four times a week, we were both done with her events crowding our own calendar items. Between gymnastics, karate, and swim, this girl’s got it made. Stuff to do all of the time. Our little social butterfly has her fingers in everything, including a brand spanking new own Google Cal. One of her grand mothers with whom we shared it (she’s Google savvy) responded only with “oh yoi”. Now if I can just get Claire to put her own events on the calendar, drive herself there, and get a part time job to pay for it all!