swim lessons

J's been taking swim classes this month, put on by the Recreation Department of the neighboring town (where the lake beach we frequent is located). I'm pretty careful about what I sign my kids up for, so I watched the lessons as they took place during the first session before calling to see if they had openings for J. I liked what I saw: the instructor seemed like a real nice, funny, good-hearted girl, and the kids were a collection of 4 and 5 year olds (just the age I like to keep J in with in classes) at about the same skill level as J (as in, not much water skills at all). The description of the class was pretty basic -- entering and exiting the water safely; putting face into water; blowing bubbles in water; learning how to float and kick. I showed J the classes going on and asked him if he wanted to do it, too. Of course, his reply was an enthusiastic "YES!! Yes, oh yes, I would LOVE to take swim classes!" (You need to realize that he responds this way to ANY suggested activity -- the boy has a zest for life! Gotta admire that.)

So we started this week. Turns out, they changed instructors on us. The new girl seems a little sour. She's a little stern. She gets frustrated a bit easily. But J still loves her, so that's good enough for me.

What's troubling to me is that the makeup of this Level I class is entirely different than the class I observed. These kids are SKILLED. There's half a dozen of them, and they're all already swimming underwater. HUH???? I doubled checked to make sure this was a LEVEL I class. Yup. But I guess folks wanted the afternoon time slot, and Level 2 wasn't an option at that time. So the first thing the instructor asked when they first entered the water on Monday was "who here can go all the way under water like this?" while immersering herself completely, hands on top of her head. Swiftly everyone in the class except J raised their hands and yelled enthusiastically "I can!" and proceeded to plunge into the water. J raised his hand and yelled, equally as enthusiastically, "I can't! It's too hard for me!" (That's another thing you've got to admire about the kid -- he doesn't let a lack in skill squelch his enthusiasm!)

So while the rest of the class is working on stroke development, floating with face in the water, diving for rocks, etc, J is working on trying to get his face close enough to the water to blow bubbles in it. He's sure that he'll learn to swim any day now, and keeps saying "soon, I'll learn how to swim!". After class he excitedly dashes over to where Zoo Boy and I are playing in the water nearby to tell us about and show us all the things they learned in class. He loves the kids, he loves the games they play, he loves cheering on the other kids as they swim. He loves the entire experience. So I signed him up for the next set of Level I classes too. Why not, we're at the lake anyway. He's not going to be swimming this summer, that is very clear, and was something that we knew from the get-go. If he manages to stick his face in the water ONCE, it will have been well worth the enrollment fee for us. Already he's going into the water on his own up to his shoulders, which is a pretty big deal for him, and something he's VERY proud of.

This is also the first class where I've chosen NOT to inform the instructor about his Autism or Sensory Integration issues. If she were to ask or express any concerns about him, I'd fess up, but as far as she's concerned, he's just a little wimpy about the water. I'm happy to leave it at that. If she knew, she'd compensate for him, and not push him. He's at a point now where a gentle nudge from another adult and the motivation of peer pressure is going to go a long ways towards hleping him learn to stretch himself and overcome his obstacles. He's coming home and practicing his "lessons" in the bathtub. He's convinced that he will eventually learn to swim (and I have no doubt that he's right). It doesn't bother him in the least that the other kids in the class are light years ahead of him -- he's obviously extremely proud of his own tiny steps towards becoming comfortable in the water. And I'm obviously extremely proud of him. He's definitely one of the most remarkable children I've ever had the pleasure to know. And I have the priveledge of getting to live with him for the next dozen or so years!

And speaking of remarkable, here's our beloved Zoo Boy, who should have been born a dolphin. It's extremely obvious that he's more than ready to learn to swim. He's tooling all over the lake on his boogie board, kicking away like he was born to water. He's jumping up and down and spinning around, splashing and cavorting, making friends with every other water-loving being he can find. I offered to sign him up for swim lessons too, and got the standard Zoo Boy answer: "No thank you. I don't swim." Yeah, right.