"Will you put my eyes up?"
That's what the Suz asked me the first day of her very first swim lessons. She has watched her brothers ("buth-urrs") head off to lessons many, many times and she was so. super. excited to get in the pool, on her own, in her very own class, with her very own teacher and her very own swimming suit and her very own towel and her very own goggles ("eyes") that she can wear on the top of her head if she wants to.
Our local pool provides free swimming lessons each year during Spring Break, I believe in an attempt to train their new instructors for the summer season. I was able to get all three kids in their own classes, and all at the same time. *pats self on back*
Campers needed the week of practice, and it helped. He seemed much less scared of the deep end this time around, and rarely clung to the edge of the pool at all. Here he is jumping into nine feet of water:
He was pretty proud of that jump.
Ziggy moved up to the level of class where he learned how to side-breathe and do arm circles. Unfortunately, he ended up in a class of mostly "big kids" (not shown below) who tended to push the Zig out of the way and call him "little." That was pretty hard on my incredibly tender-hearted little boy, but it was a good lesson for him in how to make the best of a not-so-great situation.
And to add to the saga (after all, see blog title, "SAGA"), Ziggy was not feeling well on the last day of class (the "fun" day), and after just five or so minutes in the water, I saw him huddling in the corner of the pool, shivering and looking 872% miserable. I finally put two and two together and asked if he was feeling sick and cold and wanted out of the pool--and yes, he did, so I spent the rest of that class with a soaking wet sick boy on my lap. Fortunately a couple of towels and my ever-present fleece got him warm, and he got the rest of the day off of school. So, a nice trade for having a miserable cold.
And now to the girl. Goodness sakes, I will never stop being amazed at who she is. I grew up being a mouse of a child, afraid of water and people but having a particular affinity for cheese. Anyway, each time I looked across the pool at her, she was smiling, participating, and in general, having the time of her life. She's getting old enough now that she can behave in a class and actually get something out of it, so I hope to find more things like this for her in the future.
All in all, it was a good experience and a nice break from the norm. I left the house four days in a row, in the morning NO LESS, and it didn't kill me (though I've not been this exhausted in quite a while). Yay, homebody, introverted me! Oops, I mean, yay for fun and free lessons!!!
