"What's in your world?"

Some contemplations from Peanut:

On imagination:

"What's in your world?"

Hannah asked me one day, her face all serious.

"What? What do you mean what's in my world."

"In your head. What's in your world in your head? I have 'Hannah World,'" She said.

"Oh. Well, I have a good imagination. Sometimes I imagine different characters and make-up stories."

"Yeah, Me too."

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On Making Friends:

This is Hannah's first year on swim team. She loves to swim, and would be in the water 24/7 if I'd let her. Yet, she was extremely nervous about her first day of practice. She had been swimming with the same instructor, now coach, since she was barely three years old. The summer swim team has different coaches, and different kids. I found her at the breakfast table before practice swirling her spoon around in her bowl. Her little face was down-turned, a furrow creasing her forehead as she was lost deep in thought.

"You need to eat. You have to get ready for practice," I said.
She looked up, her eyes frought with worry, "My tummy doesn't feel like eating," She said.
Hannah loves breakfast. She never ever fights about eating breakfast. I knew something was wrong. "What's the matter, pun'kin? Are you worried about your first practice?"
"Yeah. I won't know anybody!" She stretched her arms wide to each side, her eyes growing large and round as she gestured the word "anybody."
"I'm sure there will be someone there you know. A lot of the kids who swim over the winter where you did, also swim on our team."
She didn't look convinced. I told her she needed to try to eat a few more bites, and then proceeded to bribe her with a trip to the local convenience store for a slushy so she could make it through her first practice.

After practice she was all smiley and bubbly, bouncing as she walked. "I made a new friend!" She announced.
"Oh really? I told you that you'd be ok."
"Yeah, her name is Jane" she said. "It was really easy."
"Yeah?"
"I just opened my mouth and talked to her and now she's my friend. I didn't know it was so easy to make a new friend," she said.

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On the virtue of being "brown" :

We were sitting under the pavilion at the pool while Ruth was at her swim practice. Each one of my kids has their own practice time. Another mother was spraying sunblock on her daughter's back in preparation for practice.

"I don't need sunblock. I don't burn." Hannah bragged. "I'm lucky 'cuz I'm brown. "

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On Diving Boards:

The layout of our pool is unique because it is an oval with a shallow outter ring, and then a side walk (we call a cat walk) separating the deep area from the shallow. The deep area is in the center of the pool, and for the most part, it is equal in depth, except near the cat walk, and the diving boards. The average depth of the inner circle is around 6 ft. We have an Olympic pool as well where people lap swim, or water walk. This is where swim team has practice as well. We're fortunate to have such a huge and well kept pool to swim at.

Hannah wanted her swimmer's patch badly this year. At our pool, if you want to go off the diving board or swim in the inner circle, you have to have a swimmer's patch. The patch is sewn to the bathing suit and allows the life guard to quickly know who can and cannot swim well enough to be in the inner circle. I told Hannah that she needed to practice a bit before going for her test. The test requires a swimmer to swim freestyle from one catwalk to the other, a distance of about 35-40 yards, a little over a lap and a half of a 25 yard pool. Usually I have my kids practice two non-stop laps in the Olympic pool before going for their test. I figure when they can do that with ease, then the distance from one catwalk to the other won't be such an issue.

However, one day when Hannah wanted to practice, we couldn't go over to the Olympic pool. It was adult swim and the old people get really cranky when kids are in the pool. Nevermind that lane six is supposed to be for kids to swim laps in, and usually my kids actually swim laps. So, we were practicing in the outter ring swimming from one catwalk to the next. The distance is a little longer because it's not in a straight line like the test. Hannah got about half way, swimming past the backside of the diving boards when she stopped, stood up, looked at the diving boards and stated, "I'm going to be SCARED TO DEATH to go off those diving boards." Suddenly the motivation for her patch disappeared.

Yesterday, however she changed her mind, as nearly-six year olds often do, and she went for her swimmers patch. She aced the swimming portion, which was all that Joshua and Ruth had to complete for their patch. Apparently they added a new portion to the test where the child has to jump off the diving board and swim to the ladder. Hannah had resolved she was never going to go off the diving boards but still wanted her patch so she could "Swim in the deep water." I held my breath. I wasn't sure Hannah would make it if she had to climb up the ladder and jump off the diving board.

Tentatively, she climbed the ladder and started inching her way to the edge. She stopped short, terror etched in her face, eyes pinched behind her goggles. She started to cry, "I can't do it!" she wailed inching back towards the ladder. The lifeguard administering the test informed her she wouldn't pass. I came over to her to comfort and encourage her. I looked at her little face, reminded her it really wasn't all that high up (after all, we were eye to eye with her still standing on the board) and then informed her she'd have to re-swim that length of the pool if she didn't get her patch today. The last bit of my speech must have been the magic words because she looked as if she'd rather die than re-swim the first part of the test.

Grim with determination, Hannah inched her way back to the edge of the diving board, her little face set with deep concentration as she fought to suppress the fear. On average, Hannah might be a timid creature, but she does exert a will from time to time that would confound the most strong willed of people. She just has to have the right motivation. Before she could think about the height, or the plunge into the water, she leaped off the board, landing in the water in a very awkward position. She swam to the ladder, climbed out, and pronounced, "That was FUN!"

She got her swimmer's patch.