What did I just sign up for?

I decided that Steven was looking a little too bored in his swim practices.  The lessons were focused on learning the strokes, but he already knows them.  His technique is far from perfect, but during the lessons I saw a lot of Steven standing around, joking, distracting Isabel... 

So I decided to move him to the team training.  This is real swimming.  He had the first practice with the team on Wednesday.  He swam in team practices all summer on our neighborhood team, so no big deal, right?  Well...  After completing what he was used to for a warm-up, 4 laps of an easy freestyle, he stopped.... But the other swimmers who knew the system of this team kept right on going!  He looked at times like a prairie dog sticking his head up from his underground hole to check out what the other prairie dogs were doing-- Steven would pause mid-way through the lane and look around...  "Are we STILL swimming?  STILL?  Really?"  His warm ups went on for 25 minutes!  Of solid swimming.  Then they did some drills and a little more instructional time, but needless to say, the boy was tired (and a little bit humbled) at the end of practice! 

What does this move to team mean for us as a family?  It means swim meets.  I had wanted to avoid winter swim meets because they are long, protracted, multi-heat events.  They will be a challenge to manage, especially considering Steven's diabetes, but...  Hopefully it will be a good experience.  Steven really is a good little swimmer, but this will be a lot of swimming.  We'll see if he burns out.  Mac thinks this is the right thing for him, since Steven thrives on competition.  I want him to still be free to participate in other team sports.  He should be able to do both, but it's going to be a challenge...

Here is a picture after the Big Meet this past summer where Steven got 3 medals:

In other news, Kate is going to a football game tonight.  She's making more friends at school, and already feels like she knows the system.  She is amazed at how easy her English class is, and her History...  Come to think of it, she thinks everything is easy except for Algebra II.  I guess there really was more rigor at her middle school magnet program, but we'll see.  It is still very early in the year!

We have had tons of rain here for a week or so.  The weather is starting to change, to cool down.  Fall is on the way, some of the sugar maple trees are turning orange in parts.  Mac is coming home in about 28 days, but who's counting?  I am!  And so is he...