Swim Lessons

Kade started swim lessons on Tuesday, and at first, it was a nightmare! Kade is definitely our more cautious child. He does not take to new situations very well, and tends to cry until he warms up to a person or scenario. This was no exception. Our bubbly boy that had been fearless in the water, eyeballed the poor lifeguard, and then burst into tears. *sigh* Not much could console him as I tried to get him to warm up to Hannah. She was so nice, and I felt sorry for her as she seemed overwhelmed with Kade's little fit. Mary-Kate, not wanting to be left out, also began to cry since she doesn't like brother to cry alone, plus she was not too fond of the cold water. It was one of those picture perfect, overwhleming Mommy moments! 2 sobbing kids, one unsure lifeguard, and a bunch of onlookers. Fortunately, some of the people around were friends of mine, and all were mommies that I'm sure could understand the predicament I was in!

Needless to say, the lesson did not go very well. Kade cried the whole time and wouldn't really do much that Hannah asked of him. That night we tried to talk to him about it and he seemed excited to try again. He talked positively of Hannah, and about swimming lessons. I was excited thinking he was ready to participate! We even brought in a bribe, which usually works for Kade. As we drove to the pool Wednesday morning, I was hopeful. That hope crashed and burned as Kade threw the biggest fit ever on the side of the pool. He would not even get into the water and his screaming was highly embarrassing! I felt so bad for the poor guy, yet was frustrated too. I knew he was scared, but it wasn't the water he was scared of, it was the new situation. After talking it over with Hannah, we felt it would be better to reschedule the lesson for the evenings so that Bryan could be there and one of us could hold MK, and the other could hold Kade to help him relax! I was feeling so overwhelmed that I left the pool in tears.

That night Bryan and I went back up to the pool. I was pretty unsure that Kade would do anything, and I was thinking we might just need to cancel the lessons altogether for now! When we got there we got right in the water and began to get Kade ready for his swim lesson. When Hannah came over he smiled and waved at her and began his swim lessons like it was no big deal. OY! That silly boy performed for Daddy like he had been swimming his whole life. (I always tell Bryan that it seems the kids like to save the overwhelming moments for Mommy and then act like it's not big deal when he is around!!!!!) Anyways, ever since then Kade has been a champ at his swim lessons. He does everything Hannah asks of him and is progressing very well. I always knew he would do well if he would give it a chance. Last night his lesson was canceled because we had a crazy electrical storm and he was so disappointed. It's amazing how far he had come in his attitude from Tuesday up to now!

Kade had a swim lesson today to make up for one of his missed lessons and did amazing. There was hardly anyone there because the clouds were threatening another storm and the water was cold from the rain. Didn't seem to phase Kade at all though. Here are some pics from our day!!

Ready to go!

MK has actually warmed up to the water a lot too!

Practicing his swim stroke.

Practicing his kicks with the kickboard.

MK not wanting to be left out.

Not afraid to put his face in the water.

Jumping off the edge!

No fear anymore.

Ok, so seeing that Kade has this fear thing about new situations, and he hasn't gone off the big slide yet, I figured he definitely would not jump off the diving board.

I was SOOO shocked and SOOO proud that he jumped right off like it was no big deal!

Walking out there like such a big boy.

Look at that big smile! He LOVED it and wanted to go again and again!

She was having the best time putting her face in the water

Kade's favorite thing to do is dive for toys. He is doing great at putting his face under the water to retrieve them.

More diving...