Where's My Breath?

Will took swim lessons last week and he loved it!

I had low expectations going into it.  My hope was that he wouldn't be afraid of the water and that he would learn proper technique.  I didn't expect him to learn to swim in one week.  I know Will, and I know that Will doesn't like trying new things.  Sometimes he has his mind made up before he ever tries something new.  I talked up swim lessons before we arrived and I showed him his teacher, Brooke,  on facebook.  She's a former student of mine.  He thought it was fun to see her on facebook and he seemed to be pretty excited about learning to swim.

I'm happy to report that Will did so much better than I expected.  He didn't show any fear of the water.  By the end of swim lessons he was going under and picking up dive rings.  He would go down the slide. He learned to float and he can swim for a little distance.  I wouldn't trust him alone in a pool, but I think he made great progress for his first swim lessons ever.

So, where did the silly title to this blog post come from?  He was doing head bobs with Brooke, and after going in and out of the water several times, she helped Will out and said, "Catch your breath." and Will said as serious as could be, "Where's my breath?"  while he looked around for it.  Brooke and I just couldn't keep from laughing.  So cute!

Here's Will ready to get in the water.

Will working on his "Big T Little T"

JUMP!

Splash!

Will wanted to play with the rubber duck thermometer.

Here's Will with Brooke.  She was just the sweetest teacher.  She taught the lessons from her parents' pool.  They have a beautiful backyard.  Their home is just on the outskirts of our small town.  You can see a big pasture behind their backyard. 

He looks a little like he's carrying a torch.

Floating!

Slide!

There's my boy underwater.  So proud of him!

This was the cutest face.  He didn't like getting his face wet at the beginning of swim lessons so I had to share this one just to remember the look he would make when he'd gone underwater.  When Will would get nervous he'd tell Brooke, "Take me back to the step" that was his comfort zone.    By the end of the week, I didn't see this face very often.  I'd say we made a lot of progress in one week. 

In fact, I know we made progress.  Will was sad swim lessons were over.  I look forward to next  year and I know he does, too!