Remember this? That was Jackson's first swim lesson experience last summer - in a nutshell: he cried. The whole time. For 6 days.
Jackson started lessons again on Monday with the same sweet lady, Ms. Buie (said like buoy - as in floatation device. Ironic, huh?). In the weeks leading up to it, everytime we would drive in the general direction of her house, Jackson would say We're not going to swim lessons today, Mommy? in a hopeful tone. I would always say, Oh that would be so fun, but not today. In another couple of weeks we will. Ugh - I was fearing the worst - more crying throughout the whole lesson. Why is my kid such a weenie? I hate to think of it like that, but seriously! He has never had a traumatic experience in a pool or any body of water and I have to fight him to get out of the tub, so why was he so scared?
Aaron & I kept telling him over and over that we would never let anything bad happened to him and that Ms. Buie wouldn't either and that it was so important to learn how to swim so that we knew he would be safe. It never seemed to appease him. So here's how it's gone so far...
Day 1: He pouted the whole way to her house on Monday and as soon as we stepped out of the car, he erupted in tears. My heart sunk! I scooped him up though and handed him off to Ms. Buie. The other 2 kids, Samuel & Ashlyn were totally fine and they are a few months younger than Jackson. We are not allowed to stay and watch so we waited in the front yard. I only heard him cry for a bit longer, but I had no idea if he was quietly sobbing or had decided it was fun. When the end of the lesson came, Ms. Buie said that he only cried for the first 10 mins and then he was fine. Small triumphs - we'll take it!
It was short lived though - that afternoon we decided to go swimming as a family. Jackson screamed while he was in the water and I eventually gave up and let him just sit on the lounge chair while he watched Emme jump off the side into our arms, play with water toys and "swim" from us back to the wall or step. These kids are like night & day! He did come around a wee bit and come sit on the steps in the water and play with the ball, but it took a LONG time.
Day 2: Lip began quivering as we pulled up to her house. We were a little early, so I told him we were just going to watch the lesson before us. He watched these two cute little boys swim & look for the "alligator" in the skimmer and he was smiling, but as soon as they got out, the tears did too. I quickly handed him off, grabbed Emme who was crying because she wanted to swim (geesh!) and we made our way to the front yard. At the end of the lesson, I went in with about 5 mins to spare and took pictures of what he was doing. I'll post them later, but he was smiling and saying My turn. I want the rockets. I want the rings. Can I try? All the things I wanted to hear! Ms. Buie commented that he was the only one of the 3 that didn't cry during the lesson - cried getting in, but not during the lesson! Wahoo!
I'll post how today goes this evening after the lesson...he was a little timid this morning as I packed the pool bag, but after seeing yesterday's pictures, I think he was excited! We'll see....
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