Graduation Shakes

Our first celebration shake. Wish I could say it was our first shake. Anali "graduated" from her first swim lessons this evening. We're looking forward to continuing lessons this summer. I have loved watching her as a student. A hint of the proud-mama-moments to come. As I pried the shake from her cold hands, insisting Daddy be allowed to finish it, she protested, "But Daddy didn't swim!" Ah, I see she's inherited my sense of social justice.

My friends and I will walk at UW's College of Education graduation ceremony this weekend. I hope Brandon buys me a shake. I'm pretty stinkin' proud of our (my whole family contributed to this one!) accomplishment!

Anali scored a "Got it!" in the sculling with hands category. In fact, she made the mark in all areas but in holding her breath with her face in the water. I consoled her on the way home, confessing I still don't like to put my face in the water.

I don't know at what point I began to become claustrophobic under water. I can remember playing "barnacle" in the pool when I was a kid, clinging to Dad's back as he played the blue whale making his way through the ocean. Okay, now that I think about it, I must have been a weird kid. I remember pretending to be a flea on a dog, a barnacle on a whale, and a hunk of clay. I even went so far as to name my flea self. I was "Deet," if you must know. Matthew was "Doot," leaving little Hannah to be "Dot." Shannon had graduated from play school by that time. I hope that doesn't mean I was in middle school!

"Kick, kick, kick," Anali calls this.