Swim fishy swim…

Round about this time last year we started taking Aaron to swimming classes.  We took him to a teacher who had a few kids in the class and was a little kooky and crazy.  Aaron loved him.  The swimming?  Not so much.

Aaron and I spent about 2 months, one lesson a week arguing negotiating how much of Aarons body he would allow to get wet.  By the end of the year we were sitting on the step but only during the last 10 minutes of the class.

In December the teacher went on holiday and told me that he would call me when he was back.  He never did.  I think he just didnt want to deal with Aaron and his water issues.  I then had Faith and I never followed up with lessons in the new year.

Ah yes, water issues.  Lets go back a few years to bathing a new born Aaron.  He screamed.  He cried.  He really did not like bathing.  He especially did not like getting his head wet and to this day washing Aarons hair is a trauma akin to bathing 10 cats in one go.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago.

With summer upon us, swimming lessons became a topic of conversation once again.  Paul got the number of a swimming school from one of the moms at Aarons play school and I gave them a call.  We arranged to have two 20 minute lessons a week.  There are three instructors and each instructor has no more than 4 children at a time.

The first lesson was a disaster.  Aaron screamed blue murder.  We left.

The next lesson he agreed to sit on the side of the step with his feet in the water.  Half way through his ‘lesson’, the one instructor from the ‘baby’ class came to sit on the step with him.  She chatted to him and got him to throw some toys onto the step and then get up and walk to pick them up, she even got him to sit on her lap in the water before getting out the pool.

The next week the same teacher asked Aaron if he would like to come sit on the step in the baby pool with her.  (There are two pools, a large regular pool and a smaller baby pool with two steps and a shallow end, no deep end).  He agreed.  He threw toys on the steps and sat on the top step for most of the lesson.

The 4th lesson was amazing.  He blew bubbles with his face in the water and even let the teacher hold him and take him into the water.

Yesterdays lesson made me cry with pride for my big boy.  He not only got onto the pool noodle (which he had point blank refused to even touch before) but he ducked his whole head under the water.  He even let me go sit in the car instead of by the side of the pool.

I think he is learning to love swimming 🙂  I cannot wait for tomorrows lesson!