Little Swimmer

Thomas is taking swim lessons again and this time he's in the more advanced class and is really improving. Before I tell you about his swimming abilities, I have to tell you another story first.

On Monday, the first day this session of swim lessons, I knew he was going to cry. He cries every time he has a new teacher and after that he's fine. But this time was a doozy of a fit. He screamed through 30 minutes of the 35 minute lesson. I kept apologizing to his teacher and told her he'd definitely be a different kid the next day and he was. On Tuesday, he wanted to take his swim goggles. I agreed as long as he wouldn't cry. He said, "Mommy, we talked about it and if I don't cry, I get to wear my goggles but if I do cry you take them away." Tuesday went great. Wednesday, he was wearing his goggles before class even started but when his teacher told them they were going to be in the "deep" end (4 feet) all lesson, he walked over to me with his lip quivering and handed me his goggles. He knew he couldn't cry and keep them which broke my heart a little bit, as it does each time I see that trembling lip. After I reminded him how much fun it was to jump into the deep end, he started grinning, asked for his goggles back and ran to join his class.

As I said earlier, his skills have really improved. Yesterday at swim lessons, his teacher had them jump off the side by themselves, come up for air, and swim to her about 10 feet away. Then she turned them around and they swam back to the wall. And he did it!

Today we went swimming at D'Ann's and I was telling her that story when all of a sudden, he jumped off the step of the pool, swam about 5 feet and turned around and swam back to the step. At first, I was slightly panicked because I wasn't in the pool yet but after watching him do it so well, I asked him to do it again so I could take a picture. :-) He did and then asked for his float belt so he could just play and jump off the diving board.