Manta Ray Swim Team ~ Meet #2

Last Thursday night, Madilyn had her second swim meet at Sunnyslope pool. After the previous week, we talked with Madi all week about her upcoming swim meet. We continued to remind her that it was going to be at a new pool. She seemed to understand and was less nervous this time. We also figured out after a meltdown during swim practice that Madi would rather be the first swimmer in the relay races. So, Coach Emi told her that she would make sure that she would be the first swimmer for the relays. It seemed like Madi was fully prepared for the meet. Just in case, Josh and I had promised a variety of incentives that she could earn if she did really well swimming during the meet. Our fingers were crossed!

On Thursday evening, Madi and I headed over to the pool early so that we could get seats in the front row. We wanted to make sure that we could see her swim since this time she was ready to go. As soon as we got there and set up the chairs, Madi jumped right in the pool with some of her fellow teammates to warm-up for the meet. A little while later, her coach came over and told Madi that all of the kids were going to all sit together on the other side of the pool as team. Madi grabbed her towel and followed her coach to the other side to set up towel. That was the last time that we saw Madi for the night, except after each race so that she could gather the two gummy bears that Mommy promised her for swimming really hard and not touching the lane lines. And the other time was when she would drop off her race ribbon. Other than that, Madi hung out with all of her teammates and coaches. She was such a different girl from what she was the preceding week. And she earned every incentive that may have been promised to her. We were *so* proud of her!

Madi chatting with some of her teammates in the pool