Last week, I experienced the pinnacle of my summer so far. The true highpoint. The zenith. The mountaintop! Before Micah was born, this was the moment I dreamed about. What was this moment you ask? Why, swimming lessons, of course! I know, I can be over-the-top sometimes. I’m not sure why, but this was one of the many things that seemed exciting and appealed to me as a new mom, so I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to avail itself. It just so happened that our local park district was offering a class for infants this summer, so I jumped on it the first chance I got.
Once Micah was registered for class, I began to ensure we had everything we needed. And thankfully, his grandma, or “Mimi”, as she likes to be called, had gifted him with a rash guard shirt, and he already owned a pair of swim trunks, so those were two things off the list. Lastly, I needed to buy some swim diapers, preferably reusable because I didn’t want to keep replacing them. These were what I ended up going with. I found them on Amazon, and so far, they’ve been wonderful!
Now, time for the big moment. My husband was out-of-town on a business trip the day of his first lesson (lessons are held two times per week), so Micah and I headed to the pool by ourselves. I couldn’t wait to get him in the water. I was prepared. I had his swim clothes, swim diaper, towels, change of clothes, and snacks for afterward. We headed into the water and . . . well this picture pretty much sums up how it went.
Poor baby. The entire class pretty much went just like that. I felt bad, but as for Micah, I’m pretty sure he was just glad he made it out alive.
Two days later, DJ came home, and he was just as excited about going to swimming lessons with Micah as I was. I wasn’t terribly optimistic things would go well, but I was happy dad and lad would have the opportunity to learn something new together. As we entered the pool deck, Micah began getting a little apprehensive, fussing just a bit. I’m pretty sure he knew what was next. DJ took him into the water a couple of minutes before class started, so he could get acclimated. Then, as the instructor began, he started crying for dear life . . . but then . . . it got better. As they progressed through each portion of the class, from back float, to kick board, to pool entrance and exit, Micah began to cry less and less. Then he bawled his head off during the submersion portion of the class. Hey, we can’t win ’em all.
I’m not sure if it was dad’s magic touch, or simply the fact that things just get better with time and practice, but either way, I’m excited to see how the rest of his classes go. I suppose the moral of the story is, keep pushing, things will get better, and don’t give up. Oh yeah! And keep your head above water 😜.
