Saturday, June 28, 2008

We interrupt regularly scheduled packing...

...to bring you the final day of swimming class!

Claire freaked out on the first day of class, and insisted she needed to go back to Level 1 (which she had done for 2 years already!) She sat pouting & uncertain on the side of the pool with her Level 2 class for that first day, while I started to wonder if this was what the next two weeks was going to look like.

However, her teacher, Tommy, was really easy-going and nice, and that made her comfortable. Within the last two weeks she has transformed, and was fetching rings from the bottom of the 3FT. depths, feet kicking in the air with her head & arms completely down at the bottom!



On the last day of class, they get to play and go down the slide (BIG deal with the kids who don't usually get to go down the slide, like Claire, because they can't swim to the side on their own yet.) On the way to the slide, Claire panicked. Another teacher kindly sat with her, explaining that it would be safe & that he would go with her & hold on to her - he did this for 10 minutes! This guy deserves a medal or something!



Here he is, showing her how he'd hold her up when they got to the bottom of the slide, so her head wouldn't go underwater.



Another teacher came to sit with her, joined by another girl who is also afraid of the slide. Meanwhile the guy went to the top - he actually came down, carrying Tommy, held him up & showed Claire exactly what would happen. He deserves more than a medal - I wanted to bake him a cake!



Halfway convinced she went up the ladder. At the top, though, when she saw the rushing water, she had second thoughts. He spent another 5 minutes up there, talking her through it.



All of a sudden, she had a snap moment of courage, and jumped in his lap. He didn't wait - he shoved off immediately and off they go! He made sure they went very slowly. Tommy was waiting excitedly at the bottom for her.



He held her up just like he said he would... and she was smiling!



And just like that, it was over. And she loved it, just like we all knew she would.



Only problem was it took so long to conquer her timidity, that class was over right when she was climbing out, so she didn't get to go down again. Maybe next year!

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And here's a note about what Nicole's been up to - she designed her own necklace combining her craft beads with some of mine, put it on an elastic thread (for easy on & off) and now has a beautiful choker! I told her she just might have a future as a jewelry designer, to which she replied that I would need to share more of my beads for her to do it again. Hmmm... maybe it's time for her to head to Joann's with her own money.

3 comments:

angela said...

First of all, I am loving the choker! It's quite beautiful, but I only noticed it AFTER I got past those gorgeous blue eyes! Secondly, I love the swim class story. My girls will be taking swim lessons in July. I am very excited, perhaps more than they are, because I know how much they'll love swimming AFTER they conquer that fear!
By the way, I'm loving my first book...thanks for the motivation!

Anonymous said...

I love the choker, too! I love the little lady in the picture even more ;-)

Sara said...

I love that story about swimming class too!

My mom put me in swimming lessons every year for 10 years more or less, and every summer I dreaded it. But now I am so glad I did. I know so many strokes and dives and other cool tricks. And just being able to move around the water in total comfort and ease is both fun and practical.