Luke went to the pool after school with a neighborhood friend today. Around 3 PM, I received the above picture with the following text message: "Luke jumping off the high dive. Didn't faze him at all!" And by "high dive," she means a 3 meter springboard, which is about 10 feet above the surface of the water. Pretty sure I never did such a thing! Most public/non-collegiate pools these days don't even have a diving board that high, so the opportunity to even do it is rare in and of itself. Currently feeling: so glad he isn't afraid of the water
Today was a terribly busy day, but a good one overall. We started off at Luke's last swimming lesson. I can't believe it's over already. I thought the summer was going to last forever when I heard we would be occupied every weekend for 6 weeks, but here it is, all done. He has made so much progress! He is the only one from his class that she allowed to swim with the marshmallow bar while she was nearly 10 feet away. He was doing it all himself!
Until this week, he had a lot of trouble staying balanced on the kickboard. He had a tendency to roll himself off of it and into the water. But he got it figured out for this last lesson.
He also got to actually "swim" just a tiny bit. She would hold him 5-6 feet from the wall, give him a push, and he had to kick himself over to the wall. His feet didn't reach the bottom of the pool, so he really is propelling himself towards the wall (albeit a little awkwardly). I have to admit, I was impressed. That's farther along towards actual swimming than I expected him to be after only 6 classes. This is video of his very last task to finish off his time as a Starfish swimmer.
And as you can see, he is ready to jump right into the "leisure pool" as soon as class is over. I really wish he could jump right into the next class, but it won't be offered until probably September. Even the pool itself is closed for the next 2-3 weeks. And his teacher, who we like so much, is moving away in a few weeks and won't be teaching in the fall. Miss Sabrina, we'll miss you!
After swim, we loaded everyone in the car in a hurry and headed out to lunch with my mom's family. My maternal grandmother and uncle live close by, but my maternal aunt and cousin live out in New Mexico, so we don't get to see them much. But they were in town visiting for a few days, so we made it a point to get out there while they were here, despite Tigger still being in the hospital. We had an appointment to pick her up at 3:30 that afternoon, so instead of the originally planned dinner, we bumped it to lunch. Thank you, everyone, for being so accommodating! We had a great pizza lunch, then went back to my grandmother's for a little while. And did I take a single picture of my aunt and cousin while they were here? NO! What was I thinking? My aunt took a few. Maybe I can get a copy from her.
We had to leave around 2:45 in order to make our 3:30 vet appointment. We also had to get gas. Saying goodbye took longer than expected, and getting gas took longer than expected, and there was much more traffic on I-20 than expected, and I realized we were going to be late for our appointment. I whipped out my cell phone and called the office and told them we would be about 10 minutes late. As we were merging onto I-285, I realized we were running about 5 minutes later than we had indicated, but I didn't think it was worth calling again about 5 more minutes, especially when 285 is usually a good place to make up a little time if you really need to. Then the interstate came into view. And it was NOT moving. At. All. We creeped and crawled, and by 3:50, I was ready to cry.
We had no idea how to get from the next exit to the vet's office. So I did what any girl does: I called my daddy. He pulled out a map and figured out how to get us from where we were to where we needed to be. We arrived just after 4 via some backroads, but we had lost our appointment time, so we had to wait to be worked in, which took nearly an hour. By then, Luke was getting very antsy, which was understandable. He had not had nap or rest time, or even a snack, but then again, we expected to be home by 4:30. The waiting room offers free water and coffee, and I did have my emergency stash of fruit snacks in the car. Luke and DH sat in the waiting room while snack was consumed while they showed me how to feed Tigger with the feeding tube. We packed her up, picked up dinner, and we headed home. By the time we arrived, we had been away from home for about 9.5 straight hours, which is unheard of. Sunday will likely be a bit of a trial, since Luke has a tendency to be grumpy after such hectic days without a rest. Hopefully, he'll be fine and Tigger will keep eating.
Monday afternoon, DH came home from work and announced that Georgia Tech is offering swim classes for kids. "I saw the sign this morning. They start Saturday. I think we should sign Luke up." Um, uh, really? We had talked about it, but I thought we had decided to wait another year or two. I didn't take lessons until age 8, but apparently that is no longer the norm. This class was the Starfish class for kids age 2-6 with no real swim experience. There is also a Goldfish class, also for 2-6 year olds, who have already mastered the Starfish objectives. I was concerned about how well he would pay attention and listen (not currently strengths of his), but everyone assured me that he would be fine. He has always loved the water, and though he has never been to a pool, he has never shown any fear of the ocean on our numerous beach trips. (I'll admit, the ocean scares me pretty good, but I'm fine at the pool.) So we signed him up. If you need us on Saturday mornings between now and mid-July, we're probably at the Georgia Tech athletic center! Here's Luke, waiting for them to open the doors to the pool (Daddy, can we go in yet?).
There are 3 other kids in the class besides Luke: a little girl who is 2.5, and a brother and sister who I would guess are around 3 and 4.5, respectively. DH was the only dad there, which I found interesting. I was under the impression that the class was only for the kids, not a "kids and parents" class, but all of the other parents came in swimsuits. DH had his in the gym bag, but he didn't want to wear his suit and then Luke be upset that DH wasn't getting in the water. We thought Luke might pay attention better if we weren't right there beside him on the ledge. We explained to Miss Sabrina that DH could go change if parents were supposed to participate, but she said no. She then announced to the group that she didn't mind parents being in the water for the first class while the kids got used to her and she assessed each child's current abilities, but for all future classes, she wanted just the kids in the water. The other two moms looked rather unsure about that idea. I can't believe that *I* was the most chill mother of the group.
(The girl from the brother/sister pair was down the lane with Sabrina. I didn't manage a photo of all 4 of them.)
I really didn't know what to expect from Luke. Again, he has never been to a swimming pool, so I didn't know if he would suddenly be afraid when faced with the large expanse of the pool. Nope! In fact, he was anything but. There is the concrete around the perimeter, several inches above water height, then there is a plastic ledge right at water level. Luke sat down first (the other three kids were a little hesitant to get in at first), then he put his hand down and shoved his whole body into the water. Whoa!! The water was probably 4 feet deep, give or take (1.2 meters), and he sank like a stone, which I don't think he expected at all. Sabrina immediately fished him out. He couldn't have been under for more than 1-2 seconds, and he was sputtering pretty good, but he was fine. I don't think he inhaled any water (he wasn't coughing), but he likely swallowed some. I think he was just surprised more than anything! He's at swim class, so of course he can automatically swim, right? LOL It's funny now; it was minorly heart-stopping at the time. Even Sabrina said she had *never* had a kid just jump right in like that.
I was afraid that experience might make him a little more timid (nearly drowning the first 10 seconds he's in the pool), but nope. He did great! He had the briefest of hesitations when she picked him to go first (see above picture), but once he realized she wouldn't let him sink (which took about 3 seconds), he showed no fear. He was not afraid to blow bubbles in the water or to get his ears wet, something Sabrina said is often the hardest thing to overcome, even with adults. (I just pray he doesn't end up with an ear infection, like I do every time I get even a *drop* of water in my ears, even in the shower.) The only thing he is having trouble grasping is sticking his rear end up so that his legs stick out *behind* him, not underneath him like a bicycle. He did better with that when using the kick board. I'm sure it will come. I suspect he is going to ask us every day between now and next Saturday when we're going back to the pool!
Here are some more pictures:
And a video (that I shot in portrait mode, like an idiot, so there was a good bit of quality loss when it was rotated, sorry):
so glad he isn't afraid of the water
all wet
busy busy
