Miles Summer

I've been having a hard time bringing myself to write about the end of Miles' summer. I think I'm having a harder time with him going to kindergarden than I did with Caroline. Isn't it supposed to get easier? I keep asking him if he wants to stay home with me instead of going to school. Every time he gets very serious and says, "no mom, I'm going to kindergarden without you.' I'm not asking that question anymore.

Miles gave a talk in primary in June. We asked him what he wanted to say and he immediately started dictating. He said, "OK kids, who wants to hear a story? Raise your hands. OK if you don't want to hear my story then go out into the hall now so you won't be bored." Then he continued with a very detailed story that included ninjas and stealing food.

It took us a long time to convince him to tell the story of Alma the Younger. He wanted to talk with 'no help' so I put pictures with his talk so it would be easy for him to memorize. We set up a practice spot. Every time he practiced he kept throwing in crazy phrases and breaking into impromto songs.

I talked to him about sticking to the script and then told him I'd film him practicing. He got part way through the talk and then broke into this made up song about the bunny hop and not getting tired. I was really worried he'd say/do something embarrassing (to me) for the real thing but he pulled through and did a great job.

Like, Caroline, Miles loved swim team. I wasn't going to have him do it because he's so little. I knew if I didn't he'd just complain/whine everyday that it wasn't fair that Caroline got to do it and he didn't. In the end I think he liked it more than Caroline did. He loved the 'jammers' and the goggles and getting the ribbons. He woke up early every morning and got his suit on first thing. Several mornings he ate breakfast with his goggles on.

On the first day the coach asked him what his name was. He said, 'Dash' (from the Incredibles) very nonchalantly. I figured she'd guess he was kidding but several days later she asked me where I came up with the name. She had no idea it wasn't his real name. She called him 'Dash' the rest of the summer anyway.

After each race the kids had to tell the timer what their name was. Once and awhile he said 'Miles' but usually he made up some random name. I heard Logan, Max, Sonic, and of course, Dash.

While I thought Miles did an awesome job for being only five, there were lots of big six-year-olds and he was usually near the back of the pack. I think seventh place was his most common ribbon. He didn't seem to mind or even notice. In one race most of the boys were way ahead. Six of them were done and out way ahead of Miles and one other boy. They made their way to the end and the other boy finished just ahead of Miles. He jumped out and yelled, "Dad, I think I got second place!" We didn't have the heart to tell him it was eighth.

Speaking of not noticing, once he accidentally started racing with the girls and had no idea why someone jumped in to stop him. Another time he forgot to pull his goggles down off his forehead... they feel off completely half-way through the race. They had to stop the meet so someone could get them off the bottom. In yet another race he swam the wrong stroke the whole way. One of my friends told me watching Miles was her favorite part of the swim meets.

Here are two videos of Miles' races. The first is the beginning of a race. He usually started off pretty well. The second video is the end of race. Every time he got near the flags Miles was totally out of steam. He just kind of coasted in. He didn't seem to get that the point was to get to the wall as fast as possible.

I'm going to miss this little guy terrible when he starts school next Monday.