All Hands On Deck!

I take Austin to swimming lessons every Sunday morning.  He is just learning how to swim and boy is he eager!  I mean he thinks he could conquer the English Channel ... no kidding!  Anyway, he is in a small group of beginners, the other children are girls.  There was another boy in the class but he was terrified of the water and after 5 weeks of trying, his Mother finally took him out of the class, thank goodness!  I felt so badly for that little guy.  I expected that behaviour from Austin, but no, I got the total opposite (I am not complaining, just to clarify).  He can't wait to swim across that pool (it is a shallow pool, Austin is tall enough that he can walk across it)!

Austin's instructor is a young (extremely patient) woman.  She has four children in the class to keep track of during this 1/2 hour lesson.  Austin is a handful, to say the least.  Sometimes he gets excited once in the water and just wants to swim or float on his back.  The poor instructor "Austin hang onto the wall."  "Austin stay here."  "Austin wait your turn."  "Austin stand still."  "Austin hang onto the wall!!!"  Now, Austin staying at the wall and waiting is usually the toughest part for him.  I am allowed on deck, so I walk along the side of the pool (if he seems to be more excited than usual) and count "1, 2 ..." (if I get to 3, Austin loses his computer time, that is precious to him, "currency" I call it) and he listens.  He listened to me so well the other day, he wouldn't let go of the wall when his instructor asked him to at the end of the lesson.  She wanted to let him play "rocket blast off" one more time because he did a good job hanging on and waiting.  I started to laugh and told him it was okay, he could go with her and I wouldn't count.  I told him I was proud of him and loved him very much.  He did a great job!

I have to say, there are mornings when I pace around that deck watching the clock, counting the minutes like a woman with a First Response test!  It is only 30 minutes and it goes fast but somedays (there have only been a couple) where Austin needs me to be on that deck to keep him focussed.  People all stare at me like I am some overbearing stage Mother!  I just let them stare through me.  After 6 weeks of swimming, I am alone on that deck ... all the other parents sit and read their books (there are about 40 of them by the way), joke, laugh, relax and enjoy watching their kids learn to swim ... wait, what is blocking their way?  That's right, "it's me baby!".  The only parent on deck, helping my son learn to focus, wait his turn and listen to his teacher.  When it comes to swimming, Austin is doing AWESOME!  He can do anything the teacher asks and his evaluation is Sunday.  Daddy and Austin are going swimming for that class.  We will find out if he moves up to the next level.  It doesn't really matter, right now he is having fun, he is happy and I am dedicated to helping him succeed ... at anything and everything he wishes to accomplish ... my sweet boy. :)