Swimming Fun

Last night was the 2nd meet of the summer swim season, and both girls swam their best times in multiple events!  It was especially exciting because they both qualified for the Championship Meet at the end of the season; a first for Madeleine!

You can tell these kids take themselves really seriously:

While our team took a sound beating at the meet - the other team was at least three times larger than ours - a lot of our swimmers had great individual swims.  We discussed some of the top performers from our team on the way home.

ME: You know, I've said this before, but it seems like taller swimmers really have an advantage.  Their arm span is longer, so their strokes take them farther and they can touch the wall sooner than someone smaller.
JULIA: Yeah, like a lot of the best swimmers on our team are tall.
ME: Right.  I think most of the world's best swimmers are taller than average.
MADELEINE: Like Katie Ledecky and Michael Phelps!
ME: Right.
JULIA: But Lilly Mintz is short and she's one of the fastest swimmers on her team!


Oh.  Well.  In that case.  If an imaginary character that Julia made up is a short but phenomenal swimmer, I guess I must be wrong that the world's best swimmers are tall.  I hadn't taken the imaginary Lilly Mintz into account.  Also, how foolish were Madeleine and I to think of Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky but not Lilly Mintz??

Come to think of it, it's possible that Lilly Mintz was crushing it in the pool last night, but I just wasn't able to notice because she's imaginary and invisible.  No wonder I forgot about her.

Julia is clearly feeling the Mintz excitement today, as she has spent most of the morning galloping.  This in itself is not unusual, but Julia is actually galloping on a sore ankle.

JULIA: (while galloping) Mommy?  My ankle hurts even when I walk on it.
ME: Is it hurting while you're galloping?
JULIA: Yeah.
ME: You'd better stop galloping then.
JULIA: But I *waaaaant* to gallop!


Later in the morning:

JULIA: Mommy?  My ankle still hurts.
ME: Why don't you stay off your feet then.
JULIA: Okay.


Ten minutes later: Julia is back to galloping.  I guess the Mintz are super busy today or something, because Julia really need to devote a lot of time to thinking about them while galloping!  Neither rain nor snow nor wind nor hail nor a sore ankle will get in the way of Julia's Gallop Time!