up too late

I've been staying up way too late this week watching the Olympics.  I don't know what it is about them, but I just can't stop watching.  For two weeks out of every two years (winter and summer), I become a huge sports fan.  I could care less about sports the rest of my life. 

But it's not just me this time.  Rachel, who doesn't want anything to do with any sport EVER (and even cried a month or so ago, out of the blue, telling my husband, "I don't ever want to have to play soccer,") is LOVING watching the Olympics with me!  And I'm loving it, too.  I've been letting her stay up until 9 to watch each night, then I record the rest and she watches them off and on the next day. 

She likes swimming and gymnastics the best, but surprisingly, she's almost just as excited about water polo, rowing, and kayaking--oh and today she saw her first diving and loved it, too!  She also has some interest in beach volleyball, and watched almost a whole match with me yesterday. 

She's always more excited when the women are competing.  And she likes to watch and figure out what the rules are.  She comes up with interesting ideas about what a certain line is for and so forth. 

I've had to explain to her over and over what a heat is, and that every race is not for a medal.  I think she's finally understanding that sometimes they're racing for a medal and sometimes they're just trying to get into the next race, but it's taken a long time for her to get that. 

But it's been a fun bonding experience, watching them with her.  So I guess we'll just be closet sports fans every two years together. 

Oh, and she's decided that she wants to be a rower.  "Because I don't want to get my face wet like the swimmers."  She was excited to hear that our town has a rowing team (it's a club team) but was sad to find out she'd have to wait until high school to give it a try. 

Oh how I love my little olympic lover.

(Just as an aside....I have a huge bone to pick with NBC.  They're making us wait until prime time to watch the big stuff...swimming and gymnastics. I understand why, but wish I could watch it live.  But everywhere I look, I see spoilers in the afternoon, telling me who wins.  Even on MSNBC, which is my homepage online--so every time I get on the computer, there it is in a huge headline!  You would think that if they were going to make America wait to watch, they wouldn't give away the ending on their own webpage!  Ugh.  I don't WANT to know who wins until I watch it!  Even if I stay off the computer, yesterday afternoon when my husband got home from work he turned on Sports Center, and there were the results on the bottom of the screen.  No warning, no chance to turn my head....  It's really frustrating.  In the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal, but it's just one of those little things that drives me crazy.)