Like a duck to water

In spite of the heavy handed pun, that title is completely appropriate. Last night, at the end of year DASH (Dubuque Area Swimming Hurricanes) party, we celebrated Grace's first year of competitive swimming with a pizza party and a family swim.


The 3 biggest ducks are great swimmers. They adore the water and beg to go to swimming lessons almost every day. But the queen, as has been well documented, is her own independent self. She will make up her own mind, thank you very much. So I was a little worried that she might scream and resist. Not in the least. Her smile was as big as the sky the entire time. She kicked and splashed and giggled and even experimented with putting her face in the water. All my ducks are swimmers, but none started this strong this soon. To complete the metaphor, Lucy wore a ruffled yellow bikini (compliments of cousin Bridget) that looked adorable with her dark eyes and skin. She was like the poster child for some baby water program.

I wish I had taken pictures, but unlike every other mom at the party (except one) I wanted to be IN the water, not watching from the sidelines. So you'll have to rely on my descriptions and future (hopefully) shots of my 4 little ducks in water. All 4 kids enter the water in ways that completely illustrate their personalities:

Grace carefully tiptoes to the edge, places one foot in front of the other and raises her hands above her head. Then she rocks back and forth from one foot to the other, back and forth, back and forth. She studies the surface of the water, checks to make sure we are watching, checks the water again, then, eventually springs forward in a beautiful swimmer's dive.

Sam walks to the edge, lifts his arms, and dives. He is graceful and quick--utterly effortless and completely self confident. His cannonball is textbook.

Claire starts as far back as she can (usually the wall) and dashes all out towards a joyful, splashy mouth open, eyes shining leap into the water. She literally pushes other kids out of her way as she sprints forward.

And Lucy sits on the side rocking on her plump little behind, grinning, waving her arms and vocalizing until someone pulls her into the water.

So for my 4 little ducks, the recipe for a happy family this summer is simple: just add water.