Progress Report

Todd has been bothering me all week long to post something new and add more pictures. You see, Todd has been out of town all week. Last year when he was out of town, I sent him picture greetings from the kids each night so he would have them when he woke up in the morning. It was a lot of work, but a lot of fun too. This week, I just didn't have the energy. Did it have something to do with the 110+ days? Maybe. Did it have something to do with the fact that we didn't leave the house? More likely.

The kids and I did have a fun week though. We swam. And swam. And swam some more. Dylan and Isaac had their first week of swim lessons this week. And since both of their classes were mommy and me classes, that meant it was a little tough to take pictures, and prevent them from drowning all at the same time. Therefore, no pictures. And looking back, it's probably a good thing.

Or maybe not.

Here's the way our week has gone with swimming lessons.

Monday was our first day. I had been prepping Dylan all day long about going to swim school and having a teacher and swimming in a big pool. I even showed her a picture of the pool. I told her we'd sing songs and all the fun things we'd do in the water. As we waited for class to start, Dylan got in the water without incident. Sat on the step and played with the toys. Once the teacher got there and it was time to leave the step, watch out.

Dylan screamed. For 25 minutes she screamed. She screamed and clung to my neck, and if I happened to get her arms from being wrapped around me like a noose, she grabbed my legs in a vice-like grip with her own. She was hysterical. No other child in the class had a problem with being in the water. Dylan on the other hand screamed from beginning to end, and when she got out of the water she was IMMEDIATELY happy. She even had the nerve to say she had fun. Are you kidding child? I'm now deaf in both ears due to your hysteria!

Isaac on the other hand was a fish. He showed no fear and all smiles. There was laughing and bubble blowing and laying on his back floating and singing songs and dunking under water. There was playing with toys, faces in the water to search for toys and climbing in and out of the pool. I couldn't have scripted a more opposite reaction to his first swim lesson. Amazing.

Tuesday started off a little differently. I decided I needed to do whatever I could to calm Dylan down, so we jumped in the car in the morning and went out to grandma and grandpa's house to swim. I hoped that getting Dylan in the water and practicing all the things we learned the day before would just help us for later that evening. We still had minor bouts of hysteria (sometimes major ones too) but all in all I think we made some progress.

Again, Isaac was happy to be in the water and didn't mind going under, playing on the step or swimming. He was just happy. But I guess that's just Isaac too. He's happy.

Finally Tuesday night we got to the pool, Dylan walked into the water with me and all was well. Class started and no screaming. Progress! Grandma and grandpa came to watch and I was sure things would be better. We had some minor issues during singing time, but overall, not bad. Then we went to the wall. At the wall the kids are supposed to climb out, turn around and jump in to their parents. Yeah right. Every single child loved this part of the lesson. Dylan on the other hand only wanted to "monkey side walk" on the wall. There would be no climbing and jumping for this girl. This was where the panic and screaming started. And again didn't stop soon. Eventually I had had enough and I warned her that if she didn't stop screaming, I was going to dunk her under water. I would count to three and if she wasn't calm, under she went. It only took once or twice for her to keep her mouth shut and calm down. The rest of the lesson went without incident.

Isaac had a great second day too. And to be honest, he scares me just a little. He really doesn't have any fear. He held my hand, walked into the water, and continuously tried to let go of my hand to got it alone. Too bad he's not quite steady enough on his feet so he spent a lot of time under water. Luckily, he was okay with that. (The rest of the week was more of the same so I probably won't update on Isaac's progress from here on out. Needless to say, the kid loves the water and I have NO IDEA where that came from!)

Day Three. Wednesday. After Tuesdays lesson we added a new rule. It makes me laugh about our rules. Dylan has bed time rules and bath time rules and potty training rules and quiet time rules, and now she has a swimming lesson rule. This rule is simply, don't cry or mommy will put you under water. Nothing like a threat to get your child to behave. =) But, I'm happy to report, the threat worked because we had no tears. Until the dreaded wall. I used my same plan of attack. Count to three to let her get out on her own. If she didn't, I put her on the side of the pool myself. Count to three to let her jump on her own. If she didn't, I pulled her in myself. We had some tears, but she did learn to close her eyes and mouth when I said three! To me, that's success.

On Thursday we were back in the water again. Dylan had now reached the point where she wants to do it herself. She wants to chase the toy herself and stand herself. She is willing to show her teacher how she reaches with her arms, blows bubbles and kicks. She doesn't want to be near mom at all. She bounces along the water on her tip toes with water up to her chin and she's happy as can be. And when we went to the wall, there was still some tears, but more progress. She climbed out on her own once or twice. And even stood up twice holding my hands to be pulled into the water. Usually she falls to the ground and I have to grab her and pull her in. Not yesterday. Once or twice she was up with my help and into the water. Another (more) successful day.

Let's hope today she will be willing to climb out and jump in all by herself. Cross your fingers.

I am sorry I don't have pictures to capture her panic from Monday or Tuesday. But when Todd comes to lessons on Monday, we should have two very happy kids in the water. I told Todd he wasn't going to recognize us because we were going to have two water babies and need a pool to keep them happy. I did listen to Dylan in the bath last night though. She was on her belly reaching and kicking her way across the tub, saying "swim, swim, kick, kick, big arms." Apparently through all the tears, something is sticking. That's all a mom can ask for.