Whew!

This was a busy week in the life of Jaxon.  It was his last week of gymnastics and swimming lessons, PLUS he ran in the Half Mile Youth Run for the Fargo Marathon.  He's disappointed that swimming and gymnastics are over, but once we pointed out that means it's beach season and time to go swimming, he was ok with it. 

Jaxon and his participation ribbon from gymnastics

 Cin'Que and Jaxon before their half mile run

 Waiting for the crowd to move up to the start/finish line.  I told them they didn't have to hold hands, but they were both a little nervous, I think.  I'd pull their hands apart and tell them if they run holding hands and one of them falls, they both could get hurt and they'd reach for each other again.  I was curious to see how the boys would do, considering their different approaches to running. 

 Cin'Que right before he finished

 After we saw Cin'Que, we (maybe just me) got a little antsy to find Jaxon and started the "Do you see him? No, do YOU see him?" back and forth.  Finally, we saw him.  Crying.  It hurt my heart to see him out there alone, crying.  Josh "rescued" him (Jaxon's words) to see what was wrong.  Apparently, he had fallen a little ways back and scraped up his hands, forehead, and banged up his knees a little.  He fell and got back up and ran anyways and we are SO proud of him for keeping going.  After we'd hugged him quick, Josh put him back over the rail so he could finish the race and get his medal. 

He was pretty sad/disappointed that he hadn't "run under the ribbons to win the race" before he got his medal and kept talking about it the rest of the night and even the next day. 

Cin'Que and Jaxon with their medals.  Jaxon didn't want to hold his up for the picture because his hands were broken. 

 The next morning, on the way to school, Jaxon kept asking me questions about the race and if we could go back that day so he could try again.  He apologized for falling, crying, and not winning.  He told me he wanted to go back next year and that he wouldn't fall and lose the race.  We had a talk and I told him Daddy, Dash and I are so proud of him for getting up and finishing the race and that winning wasn't important.  I hadn't anticipated him learning a life lesson about picking yourself up and continuing on, even when you're not sure you can and am pretty impressed that he wanted to go back right away and that he wants to run again next year. 

He finished out the week with his final swimming lesson.  Before he went into the pool he told me, "You're going to be so proud of me today."  And I definately was.  He did much better practicing his back float and putting his face in the water today and even went down the waterslide.  Twice.  After the lesson he asked me if he did really awesome, and was pretty happy when I told him that he was super awesome. 

 And then there's this guy, who was a pretty good cheerleader while his big brother floated and went down the waterslide.