Swimming, swimming swimming, got to keep on swimming...

Tyler has now completed his two weeks of school swimming classes and loved every minute. We bought him a pair of 'gobbles' which he wears not only at swimming but also in the bath! He has made great progress over the two weeks and is now perfectly comfortable with moving around with his head under water and not having to hold his nose closed. He can kick along with a kick board too. Today I took him and cousin Stephen to the pool where they had a wonderful time together.

We had a meeting with his teacher about his first assessment under the new National Standards on Thursday. He is doing fine in maths and has suddenly 'clicked' with reading, so although lower than he should be, his is quickly gaining ground. This teacher seems to have all the kids totally enthused with reading which is great. Tyler gets up in the morning and grabs a piece of paper and starts writing words, and looking at the paper to see if he can fund words he knows. He actually asks me if he can read his nightly reading book instead of me having to drag him to it. I hope he becomes an avid reader like my side of the family. We have a story every night and we have been through my old beloved Pookie books and are now into the Little Grey Rabbit series.

Chris had a good time at Nationals although as usual was critical of his own performance. He scored one intercept try where he had to run the length of the field, being chased all the way. Obviously life left in the old legs yet :)  Apparently the coach/selector of the NZ Mens 40's team is keeping an eye on him for the future so he's quite chuffed about that.

I am in a big singing phase at the moment. I decided this would be my year to really pursue some improvements in my voice. I am loving every minute of my intense lessons with Rebecca Ryan, and have made (her words, not mine) wonderful progress. When I first walked into her music room, 5 lessons ago, I could not sing the colartura bits of 'Rejoice Greatly' from Handel's Messiah. Now I am at the point where I am contemplating performing it in a couple of weeks! I have already extended the top of my range.

A Capella has started rehearsals for Karl Jenkins' 'The Armed Man' for Anzac weekend and I will have a solo in that. I have also been invited, along with a couple of other Invercargill singers, to take part in performing at St Mary's Basilica on Easter Sunday. Both the morning Mass and Vespers later in the day. Members of Cantores choir from Dunedin plus musicians will join us. I and two other singing mates have been asked to perform the Agnus Dei from Mozart's Coronation Mass as well singing in all the choral numbers. So a busy time ahead.