Little Fish

My frustration level with Andy is high this summer.  Last summer, he was starting to swim and had no fear.  When we went to Mexico, he loved the water and swam constantly.  This summer, he got it in his head that he didn't like swimming...and so he didn't do it.  At all.  I finally gave in a put the puddle jumpers on him (I am against them for many reasons, the main reason is kids tend to forget when they are not wearing them and then jump in-- Andy has done this twice and it was terrifying).  He loved the floaties and it gave him all kinds of confidence- which is what I wanted. But he had zero desire to swim without them. 

I have begged/pleaded/rationalized getting him to try swimming with them off and he refused...

Until yesterday. I got in the water and held on to his swimsuit while he swam around.  I started letting go and he was swimming on his own.  I pointed that out to him, fully expecting him to freak out, but instead he asked to go further and try again.  So, our afternoon started off like this:

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I literally had about 12 other moms and lifeguards all standing around cheering for him-- these people could feel my frustrations! So once he started getting confident, I would back up more and more and he would swim farther and farther. 

He realllly wanted to go off the diving board, so I told him he had to take the swim test (swimming the length of the deep end).  We headed over to the lap lanes and he tried it, but got water in his nose.  We tried again and he got 3/4 through and Cal jumped in and splashed water in his face... but that was enough for him to go off the diving board and down the slide!

We went to the deep end and he immediately went down the slide.  He loooooved it...until the very last turn, he flipped onto his back somehow and banged his head.  It scared him enough that he didn't want to go near the side.  But he was allll about the diving board.

He got right up on the board and threw himself off the end with zero hesitation.  He came up from his jump grinning ear to ear and swam confidently over to the ladder.

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He started getting pretty confident and was doing tricks off the board.  He loved it! He would have stayed there until the pool closed if I would have let him. 

We had to take Eddie to his car and soon there after, I looked back and saw this... all that swimming did him in!

We went to the pool today and Andy walked right down the steps into the deep water and sank.  Yes. I said that.  I ran down to him with a lifeguard right behind me.  I jumped in and he was in full blown panic mode.  It appeared he had forgotten how to swim over night.  So I got in the big pool to work with him some more...and he froze up (literally the water was really cold because of all the rain this week!) and started sinking. 

He really wanted to go off the board again today, but I wasn't going to let him unless he could show me he could swim.  Finally he swam a little bit and begged to go off the board.  He did, and swam to the ladder great.  The next time he went off, he swam for about 3 seconds and then froze (I think scared to go under water...?-- totally ironic since he was just under water from the board...?) and I had to jump in and get him.  Now, I am fine with having to grab him a few times, but I won't let it become a habit that I have to jump in every single time he is going off the board-- that isn't happening! So we left the deep end and will try again later.

He was up a TON last night (we thought for sure he would sleep like a log) so I think he was really tired today.  We will see how he does! But he is getting better and gaining confidence! I am proud!