Choosing Bravery

This was the summer of first swimming lessons for our family. I didn't know what to expect but I was so thankful there are people out there willing to teach Liam how to swim because he did not want to learn from Nic or me. The night before his first lesson, we were invited to go swimming at a friend of my mom's neighborhood pool ...

A little back story on Liam and water ... he's always loved it but NEVER on his head. So we'd go to a splash pad and he'd get his toes wet or skip around the perimeter but go no where near the actual water that could potentially spray his face. Same thing with the bathtub ... he's always had a panic attack every time I have to wash the soap out of his hair. He learned to carefully lean back and dip his head in just enough so I could lightly spread some water around without it raining down his face. The shower has been off limits entirely. This is all a fairly natural reaction to water for a lot of kids but I knew it would make learning to swim harder for him.

At the pool that night we tried to encourage him to just put his face under water for a second with his goggles on but they just sat on top of his head like this instead. haha

He'd cling to the side while Lyla wanted to be sprung from Nic's arms into the deepest possible end of the pool she could find (haha not really but man she has no fear!). 

Any time we would even come close to stopping her from doing something crazy, this was the look she'd give us! haha It always has to be on her terms, like helping her fetch these balls for example ...

Liam's first session of swim lessons was with the Meridian pool. It is 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 2 weeks. The first day I got to see 2 seconds of his lesson because this little lady had other plans (either diving into the water or walking around anywhere expect for the actual swim complex). On day 2 I got smarter and brought an endless supply of snacks and it worked like a charm for the remaining 9 days! She's a handful but man she's cute though! 

The look on his face every time he got in the water, I knew he loved swim lessons but he sat 90% of the time on this step. 

He was in the same class as his cousin Olivia ...

... and his best friend Everett! His other cousins were all in classes above his. 

I loved that he loved it and that his teacher was really sweet but was discouraged at what a slow pace they ran their program. They dedicated one whole day to water safety and took turns laying on the side of the pool and pulling in instructors with a pool noodle. Then they had them all put on life jackets and taught them to grab hands to stay together and pull their arms in close for warmth in really cold water. They also gave them the 411 on sunscreen use. All great safety tips, don't get me wrong, but in my opinion was not at all age appropriate. I would hope that 3 and 4 year olds aren't in charge of remembering to put on their own sunscreen or helping to pull an adult out of a pool they can't even swim in themselves if they fell in while saving someone else. 

I learned that the goal of Liam's class in particular was getting them comfortable in the water in general. Choosing to be brave is never easy, it always takes courage, and I was a proud momma watching Liam choose to be brave every time he had to dunk his head under water!! By the end of the 2 weeks, that is what he mastered! We'd get home from swimming lessons and need to take a bath to wash off the chlorine and I'd watching him pretend to swim in there because he was no longer afraid. For that reason alone, I wouldn't have changed anything!

And the fact that socially, it was so much fun spending 2 whole weeks seeing cousins and friends every day!

Nearing the end of the 2 weeks, they introduced diving rings. His teacher would place it on a step just low enough that they had to put their head under water for a second to grab it. I was blown away every time watching how brave he was!

Cutest swimmer in the pool!

A couple of the days they would get some free time to go ride this slide into the kiddie pool which Liam loved!

The very last day there was all this buzz about a card I would get from his teacher with his final assessment. This was a new moment for me, the first time having one of my kid's skills assessed by someone other than me. I'd like to say I was that parent that I always hoped and imagined I would be ... the one that if they didn't do well would hold it together for them and be nothing but their rock. It turned out, it was the other way around for me and I wasn't so prepared. 

Liam handed me the card and I carefully read it over, trying to decipher what it was showing me. It said that he had passed his head dunk with flying colors just like I thought he would but didn't pass the class overall for "lack of confidence". In other words, if we wanted to come back again, he would have to repeat the class at the same level. I felt my emotions take over ... frustration, anger, disappointment, etc. None of them at Liam AT ALL, just at the situation. I was terrified to tell him he didn't pass and have him experience that form of rejection. As all his cousins and aunts rushed around him asking if he passed ... he simply told them "I didn't pass". No sadness, disappointment, anger like me ... just a simple fact and a desire to try again. He didn't know it, but in that moment he was teaching me to choose to be brave. I learned that life is going to be filled with hard moments for my kids and I learned so much from this one and prayed so hard that the next time I am faced with a moment like this, I can be just like Liam. Choosing to be brave and try again. Choosing to see all the good things that came out of those 2 weeks instead of a silly card that said "needs to retake level". 

To me, his mom who knows the challenges he came into the class with and watching him conquer those, I didn't agree with her that he lacked confidence. It's hard to gain too much confidence when he spent most of the time having to wait for his 5 minute turn on the top step at the pool. Instead he mastered something he'd spent the last couple years of his life scared of! That was all that mattered to him and to me!

On a lighter note, in the same complex there is a city park where we spent almost every day for lunch ... sometimes with Everett, sometimes with cousins, and sometimes even just by ourselves but we had the BEST time! I love watching Lyla follow Liam all over and mimic everything he does ... he's her best friend!

Even selling ice cream (wood chips) at their store. <3 memories="" of="" p="" summer="" sweetest="" the="">

We took a week off from swimming lessons and then were back at it again for another week. This time we took some private ones with a girl who was home from college for the summer and had been on the swim team all through high school. She was amazing and pushed Liam exactly how far I had hoped he would be pushed during the first set of swimming lessons. It was only him and his friend Avaree in the class so they both got a ton of one on one time to learn and practice all of the skills they were being taught. Everything was in the deep end but he held on to the side until it was his turn, lunged for his teachers arms, and then swam across the pool. There were tears the first 2 days and then nothing but bravery after that. He even learned how to dive down for a ring (his favorite part!). Another fun week spent with friends and at the most epic of apartment pools! It seriously looked like a tropical resort! The hot tub was the favorite post swimming lessons activity. ;)