Last Day of Swimming! We Passed!!!

Today was Bubby's last day of swimming lessons, and I have to say I'm not all that sad. :) It was a fun week and a half, but I was ready to be done. Even though our lessons were at 9 a.m. it seemed like by the time we did lessons, came back home, showered, got dressed and ready for the day it was already basically noon, time for lunch and then time for his nap! So I sort of felt like that 45 mins took up my entire day!

Based on his performance the first day of swimming lessons, I would never have predicted that he would turn into such a little fish by day 9, but he has. He LOVES the pool, and loves playing in the water! He has gone from being petrified to get into the pool, to almost having no fear!

There were a couple times when I thought about just skipping lessons, but every morning when he would wake up he would say "Mommy, a water?" How can you say no to that, and how can you say no to that little face!?!

When we would pull up and get out of the car, he would RUN all the way into the pool with the biggest smile on his face!

He learned lots of songs and lots of new tricks. It was so funny to watch him in the bathtub doing his tricks.

He got really good at blowing bubbles, although he didn't always do it when the teacher asked him to do it, of course. He learned how to kick his legs in the water, and even move his arms once in awhile. He hates being on his back, he doesn't like having his head in the water, but even that he was getting better at. He learned how to push off from the side of the pool and "glide" in the water (with help obviously). He learned how to throw the little diving stick toys into the water and pick it up from the bottom. I was amazed at how he could contour his little body enough to pick that thing up without getting one part of his head or face wet, but he did it! :) His FAVORITE part though was jumping in! He LOVES to jump anyway, and he got pretty good at jumping off the side and into the water. He still won't let go of my hands, but he jumps in like a pro as long as he can hold on to me. He stands at the side and counts down and then when he lands in the water he yells "I did it!"

Since today was the last day, they let the kids play in the pool for the last 10 mins or so, which basically means they turned on the water slide. I was adamantly opposed to going down the water slide with him! In fact last week his teacher took him down because I refused to.

It wasn't so much that I am scared of the water slide. I can handle going down it alone, but going down with a little kid is scary!

Several years ago when Chris and I were first married we took Cam and Reag to the pool. She was a little older than Bubby, but not much if I remember correctly. She wanted to go down the slide with me, and like an idiot I agreed to take her. I still remember going down and that feeling of "Holy crap this is going fast, how am I going to slow down!" I don't know who freaked out first, me or her, but long story short, we both ended up being sucked under the water and I remember hitting the bottom of the pool and swallowing a lot of water! Well...that was the end of the slide for poor Reagan. She was traumatized and so was I! She didn't ever want to go down the slide with me again, and I didn't blame her.

Well, try as I may, I wasn't getting a lot of support in my decision to not go down with Bubby! In fact Mama Anne called me this morning and offered me $20 to go down the slide with him! Well...$20! That can go a long way when Payless is having their $5,$7 $9 sale! So I told her I would do it.

I asked his teacher and a few of the other mom's what the trick was to going down and not getting sucked under. They gave me a few pointers, but all in all it boiled down to how much you weighed. Well...I'm a LOT fatter now than I was when I took Reagan down, so I thought if weight is the issue, I had this one in the bag for sure!

We walked up the stairs and I sat down with poor Bubby. I told myself I was fine and we could do this, but in the back of my mind I kind of knew it wasn't gonna turn out well. I had total control until the last turn. We got thrown way up the side of the slide and I couldn't regain my balance! Of course it's the last turn and I could see the pool coming. I held onto Bubby for dear life, and tried to lift him up so he wouldn't get pulled under, but it was no use. Down we went!

I will never forget the look of total shock on his poor little water soaked face when we came back up! I grabbed him and tried to make sure he was ok. At least I had hung onto him, so I knew he hadn't hit the bottom or anything like that! I was sure he would start crying and making a huge scene because he had to have swallowed as much if not more water than I had. But leave it to Bubby to turn any situation into a comedy...he looked right at me as serious as can be and said "Mommy, again?"

Needless to say we did NOT do it again, but I at least feel no guilt for not taking him down the water slide, and I also know now that no matter HOW much I weigh, I'm just not built to take kids down the water slide! The next time he goes will have to be with his Dad, or when he is tall enough to go alone! :)

We got dried off and his teacher gave him his little report card.



We passed the Mommy and Baby class, so he can now go onto the pre-school class next year, which thankfully I will not have to do with him! :)

I'm glad he has learned to love the water, and not be afraid! I'm glad I forced myself to sign him up against my "better judgement" (ha ha) and I'm also glad that I swallowed my pride, got into a bathing suit 9 days in a row and took the class with him. It was fun to spend that time with him, and fun to watch him learn!

Congratulations Bubby on passing your swimming class! May you pass many many more and become a MUCH better swimmer than your Mommy!! Truth is, you already may be! :)