A few months ago Drew was at a birthday party at the pool. She slid down the small slide they have in the shallow end and she promptly started to flail and sink. The lifguard had to throw her the floaty thing and told her she couldn't use the slide again. She was, needless to say, totally embarrassed in front of her friends who all seemed to know how to swim. I promptly signed her and Mason up for swimming lessons starting the next Tuesday! They had 1 session of lessons 2 summers ago but I insist on having kids who know how to handle themselves in the water so this just pushed me into getting them started again. I had plans for 2 straight sessions with Drew and Mason, 1 session for Darcy, and then the free week of lessons for all 3.
The first day of lessons was oh, so dramatic! Bree cried at the top of her lungs the entire 30 minutes, trying to pull her shirt and pants off so she could swim too. Mason was loving being in the water, not sure he was listening to anything his teacher said, and Drew was probably just as unhappy as Bree. For some reason Drew's butt doesn't naturally float to the top. It wants to sink and pull her under. I could see the frustration on her face and she let all of us have it when we got in the car. She was a wreck! Drew isn't used to failing at things, she can usually conquer pretty much anything we put in front of her, but this was obviously different. Swimming wasn't coming easy to her and she was extremely frustrated. That night I said a prayer with her to help her in this situation. On Thursday she was raring to go! She got in that pool and was determined to conquer it. She somehow trained her booty to float in the water and she took off from there. It was fun to watch that intense look of determination on her face as she listened to everything her teacher said and tried her darndest to swim. What an example of determination she is to me! When all was said and done she was able to move up a level and she is more than capable of keeping herself from drowning if left alone in the water. I think she even had fun! Way to go Drew! I am so proud of you and your fighting spirit!
Mason, on the other hand, seems to have some natural swimming ability. He just doesn't have the drive Drew does to improve and move up levels. That doesn't mean much to him I guess. He had a great time seeing how long he could hold his breath under water, even when his teacher was talking to him. Nice, Mase. The only thing holding him back from moving up a level was the transition from front float to back float. I mentioned that to him during the free lessons and he said oh, and proceeded to do it perfectly. Grrrr, that kid can frustrate me. Maybe I'm just jealous of his happy-go-lucky personality!? He can totally take care of himself in the water now too. Yeah!
Darcy was up and down, depending on the day. She didn't like doing "Blobs" (bobs) but other than that I thought she did OK. If she started to cry I just let the teacher and her work it out on their own without stepping in. Sorry teachers! I wasn't really looking for Darcy to learn how to swim, just be comfortable in the water. I think she was. I was also trying to gage how she might react when she is left with a teacher and mom isn't in the picture, like she will be in 2 short months when school starts. The jury is still out on that, hopefully she will be fine but that will be a one day at a time thing too.
All in all it was a great experience for me to get a front row seat to watch my kids' very different personalities manifest themselves in the swimming pool. I think we are done with lessons for the summer but who knows, we may get bored and sign up for another go-round. But it will have to be when Bree and I can swim too because I think it would be too much for her to have to sit there and watch the big kids swim again without her!
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