Swimming and Slushies

A happy wave to Dad and Benjamin in the stands, ready to warm up!
It was another bright-and-early, 7:00 AM morning for the Four Nguyens yesterday. This week, it was the Second Little Nguyen's turn to splash around in the pool -- the North Raleigh Swim Championship! The Greystone Gators were on the pool deck at Ravenscroft warming up by 7:15, and our Little Gator was ready to roll. I wish all swim meets could take place in the morning...he was "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed," as Grandpa B. used to say!Lining up for freestyle.The advantages of volunteering...a quick pep talk from Mommy.
The Second Little Nguyen swam all three events with gusto for the 6 & under boys: freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke. In between events, he loved hanging out with the other Gators coloring pictures, playing with his Star Wars figures, and doing sticker pages. Each time we would line the boys up for a different event, he would spring to his feet with his goggles. When we entered the pool area (imagine utter chaos -- the disorganization and go-with-the-flow feel of kid-packed swim meets really bugs the teacher in me), he would immediately scan the crowd until he found Daddy and the First Little Nguyen. Then, it was down to business. A yawn snuck in.... A wave from the block... GO! Swimming freestyle...
In freestyle, he placed 5th in his heat, 11th overall; in backstroke he was 1st in his heat, 8th overall; and in breaststroke he was 2nd in his heat, 7th overall! WOW! He was so proud when we told him he had helped his team to a 1st place finish at the event by scoring 29 points! Yay, Little Gator! We couldn't have been more proud of his attitude, sportsmanship and skill. On the way out of building, he heard some tinkling music and asked if the ice cream truck was near. We discovered it was a tropical slushie truck with cool, fruity treats. Of course, as luck would have it, he asked me if he could have one and I had absolutely no cash on me. I felt so bad having to tell him no since I really wanted to buy him a slushie. When we got to the car, I was getting in when I spotted a dollar peeking out from under the drivers' seat! I scrounged a bit more and found 4 quarters! It was like I had struck gold! I showed the money to the Second Little Nguyen and his face lit up as he shrieked, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Mommy!" I said a silent prayer and revelled in his happiness as we walked back to the slushie cart with our money. He chose a grape and blue raspberry slushie and even offered to share. That's my sweet boy.
Congratulations from his big brother. And.....he's OFF! Brrr...where's my towel?!

I don't think it really dawned on him how well he had done until today, when his coaches gave him a baggie with two ribbons in it. We read him what the ribbons said and explained that he had placed really well in two of his events. When we read the part that said championship, he looked at us with this quizzical expression and said, "I was in a championship? Oh, yeah. I got a slushie!" HA! Purple and green ribbons...