July 30, 2008

fish update

Sorry I have nothing new to write about, but my life pretty much revolves around swim lessons these days! I so dreaded the thought of "organized activity", that I bargained with John to take the boys to swim lessons the first week. So this was my first week doing it on my own. And by golly, I am absolutely surprised that I actually like this organized activity stuff after all. It's been so nice getting the kids out of the house every morning, feeling like I am doing something fun for them(except that it's not really fun for them). The point is, I feel like a normal member of society, hauling my kids off to lessons, and I'm enjoying it. Who knew? I guess being normal is not so dreadful after all.

Monday was a real kicker. Finn was trying his darndest to swim. I have never seen a little person exert such effort. It was actually kind of alarming. Like how a jack-russel terrior will literally run itself to death unless it's owner makes it stop. Finn was so proactive this time, jumping off the wall before Miss Bailey was even ready for him. However hard he was trying though, he wasn't quite moving his arms and legs hard enough. So after a few seconds of swimming, he'd inevitabley end up in a vertical position, like a pencil bobbing up and down. And then sink to the bottom. And my heart would sink right along with him. Miss Bailey even labled him a "sinker" much to my dismay. She said "he needs more fat to help him float!"

So the next morning on the way to practice, I explained to Finn to kick his legs real hard, and I showed him how to move his arms more effectively. To which he responded "I do my strokers much better than you mommy".

When we arrived, I sat perched in the bleachers, on the look-out. And I totally despised myself for feeling like a lamo stage-mom, or whatever. So I tried to sit calmy, watching quietly from a distance. After all, they were the professionals. Once again, Finn was giving his 100% all-in-all effort. Even Miss Bailey said "he's trying sooo hard". This time, Finn started moving his arms more steadily and was kicking much more assertively. And he stayed in the proper horizontal position. And was moving forward! He was really swimming folks!! When he got out of the water he said "I beat the water and made it cry".

And Calvin barely cried at all. He jumped off the wall a bazillion times for Miss Bre. They are just so cute together. They have this sweet little relationship. She is always hugging him and holding him. Encouraging him.

As we got into the car, I barely heard Calvin's little whisper.

"I love my teacher"

8 comments:

  1. Ok, what kind of stupid teacher calls their student a sinker?? was she kidding? I'm glad your boys are doing better, and it sounds like they're even enjoying it now! =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AHHH..makes me miss teaching swim lessons :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Calvin loves his teacher! It reminds me of Luke saying afterwards, "Bye-bye Calvin." I'd say the lessons are a huge success:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yay! Sounds like the boys are doing well! (Aside from being a "sinker")

    Glad the trama is going away and the boys are enjoying themselves :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Is Ollie going to take lessons next year? I think Josh might...

    ReplyDelete
  6. We have a sinker at our house, too.

    I'm so impressed with their progress, and the pool is so beautiful! Our pool looks downright ghetto compared to yours!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm so proud of you Davi! Soon you'll be driving the wheels off your van with all those boys! Organized activities are always tricky...They provide much appreciated physical activity, structure, and fun and yet they require maintaining a schedule. Oh, the dreaded schedule! It seems like I remember you saying Finn might do soccer this year. Did you sign him up?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yay, boys!!!! They have both made amazingly wonderful progress in such a short time! That is impressive! And I get the "sinker" thing - Ethan is my "sinker". Some kids have a denser body mass that doesn't lend well to floating skills. Or something like that. ;-P

    Davi, you are so after my own heart with your reluctance towards "organized activities". I had to be dragged into such things, kicking and screaming (okay, not out loud, but in my heart). Then I got into the swing of the activities and it was fine. And then I had baby #4, and I no longer like having organized activities. We do them because I love my children, LOL, but it's a ton of work and lots of waiting around (with whichever three other tired children who are not in that particular activity), and tricky scheduling around homeschooling, etc. Yawn!

    I'm tired just thinking about it, actually. But it's good for the kiddos. It's good for the kiddos. I just keep repeating that to myself...

    ReplyDelete