Swimming and Conquering Fears

A couple of weeks ago, The Bigs had swimming lessons. (Around here, kids have to be 4, and since Carter Mac is 3 and not so comfortable in the water, he was a spectator for another year.) Maddy had taken them earlier in the summer when G was in Idaho, so she was excited and ready to go. I love watching her swim (ok, so I also love watching her dance and do Battle of the Books and pretty much anything). It amazes me how strong she is and how fast she is growing up. Yes, it's bitter sweet because these years are just going so fast, but we are soaking them in and loving (nearly) every minute.

Meanwhile, Garrett was not looking forward to taking lessons. Last year he put his head in the water ONE time, and was hugely praised and rewarded for that. This year, I told him that since he was 6 now, he needed to do what the teacher said and try each thing. Meaning; when the teacher asks you to put your face in the water, YOU NEED TO TRY IT. Well, he was so nervous and the first day did not go well. He tried, he did try so hard, but he was not a happy boy and cried a little. But he had a fun and busy afternoon playing with Grayson, so he didn't mention it again until the next morning. And then he cried all morning long about not wanting to go to swimming lessons. I really thought Tuesday would be better though! Now he knew what to expect! He knew it wasn't really that bad! Wrong.

He sobbed through the whole lesson. Cried. Hard. Looking at me with those pleading eyes after every single time. I wanted to throw up. Actually, what I wanted to do was run down there with his big soft dry towel, scoop him up like the baby he used to be and walk assertively out of that place never to return. You see, I'm used to Garrett's drama, I really am. He wails a lot at home if he finds injustice in something. Or if he's mad at his sibling. Or if he's upset with me. Or if he stubs his toe. But all of that is mad crying. Stubborn, strong willed, ticked off, crying. He's sarcastic when he's upset like that, and usually it is a little funny. He's still full of spit and swagger, and we can deal with that. But, the crying at the pool, and every morning that week, was different. It was sad, scared, little boy crying. I hate that. I'm really not used to that. And yes, I could have pulled him out of lessons, but the thing is- he needs to learn to swim. For safety, for life, for fun and not missing out on things. He has got to get past this mental block about water in his face so he can move on. And I know he is big enough to do it. But dang, that was not fun.

On Wednesday we were going to visit my good friend Kelly, who I've known since preschool. She has a pool in her backyard and we were going to beat the 105 degree heat there. On our way we stopped at Big 5 and bought some Super Goggles. These goggles are not just ordinary, no way. They are super sized and cover the nose as well! He tried them out at Kelly's pool and eventually decided that between submerging his head and dealing with the tight goggle straps, the straps were the lesser of the two evils.

I was nervous for swim on Thursday- Garrett was cautiously optimistic- he only cried once that morning before we left the house, but I was sure the googles would pop off and cause more trouble than they were worth. But no, it all went so great. He actually smiled- SMILED! During his lesson. There were parts of it I could tell he really LIKED. When playing the 'find the ring' game, he actually laughed! He took his goggles up and down numerous time, but they mostly stayed on and worked well for him. And afterwards? He told me, "I can't wait for swimming tomorrow!!" I was so relieved. Friday went so smoothly also. I wish I would have bought the stupid goggles from the beginning!




Carter and Molly were too cute all week playing together. They were really so good, especially considering they had to be 'watchers' and not swimmers the entire 5 days! They found ways to entertain themselves though- like practicing their 'swimming' on these smooth wooden benches! Check out Judy's blog for more fun pics of the week!


Update: I wrote this whole post out 10 days ago, but haven't dealt with photo uploading. Today, I took the kids to Family Swim time. Garrett was a maniac! He was full on swimming (with the super goggles, of course!), diving under constantly, and I lost count of how many SOMERSAULTS he did under water. SOMERSAULTS!