Swimming Lessons....A Work in Progress

Here is a little tale about our Mitch...a complex child. Fun-loving and silly, but painfully shy and quiet when confronted with new situations. Take swimming pools, for example.

In our apartment pool, he is amazing. He dons those "Floaties of Invincibility" and is unstoppable. A total splash monster. Running and leaping into the water, going completely under for several seconds before he pops up and does it again. And again. And again. He motors all around the pool, kicking and paddling and is fairly self sufficient, except for when one floatie broke and was unusable, but he insisted on "swimming" by himself with only one. That time, he just swam in circles, but had a great time doing it. OK- swimming is totally under control. Check that off the list.

In the words of Lee Corso (ESPN Gameday host and prognosticator- can you tell I am getting excited for college football season?) "Not so fast my friend." I signed Mitch up for swimming lessons at the new YMCA. Yesterday was the first day. He is going to be in the Pike class, which is the lowest of the swimming lifeforms. Hopefully some day he can graduate to the Polliwogs, the Eels, or even the Fish, but for now, he is a Pike. He seems excited, we get to the pool, and that is when he turns into a puddle of mushy, non-swimming, plankton. Plankton is lower than a pike, right?

He has a darling teacher, Mr. Tye, who is all full of smiles and encouragement...at the beginning of the lesson. He coaxes, prods, and pleads with Mitch to even sit on the side of the pool and put his legs in the water. Mitch is having none of it. Not wanting to interfere, but certainly not going to allow Mitch to continue to be a jelly fish, I head over to him and prod him (read- push him into the pool. Now remember- this kid is not afraid of the water. He loves the water. I was not being cruel.) Tye takes him for a little swim, and asks Mitch to kick, at which time he puts forth the most pathetic effort I have ever seen. He slightly, ever so slightly, moves one leg. Then, ten minutes later, he moves another one. The complete lack of effort continues throughout the lesson, and I watch as Tye's initial smiles of encouragement morph into looks of total confusion as to what this kid was doing, and finally into pleas for help. His eyes are searching for anyone, anyone who might be able to shed light into what exactly is going on. The grande finale was when Tye was asking the kids to blow bubbles in the water (remember- this is the kid who goes completely under the water all the time) and Mitch looks at him and says, "But, I don't have any air." Tye was utterly stunned. No idea what to make of this.

By this point, I am just praying for the lesson to end so I can get my hands on this kid. It ends, I am toweling Mitch off, when a mother looks at me and says, "His first time in a pool?" I smile, but I want to reply, "No, his first time in public."

And then, because someone has a sense of humor, the fire alarm goes off in the whole gym. Like this whole experience was not traumatic enough for us! People are filing out left and right, Mitch and I head out the doors and try to track down Matty, who is in the Childwatch area. We finally get everyone and head home.

After I report to Mike, Mike spends the evening talking to Mitch, bumping up his self confidence, telling him he can do it!!! Bless his heart. I take a practical approach, and moments before today's lesson, I bribe him with a trip to the Cracker Barrel.

Well, I am happy to report that today's lesson was much, much better. Mitch was jumping. Mitch was kicking. Mitch found the air to blow bubbles. Tye kept looking at me like, "What did you say to this kid?!?" He may have figured it out, however, because after every jump or kick, Mitch would look at me and say, "Do we get to go to Cracker Barrel yet?" Mitch was much more at ease and willing to try. Thank goodness! He still did, however, provide Mitch moments, as Tye was trying to get the kids to make giant circles with their arms, just like they were "scooping ice cream." Mitch just started doing weird things with his hands and his mouth. He told Tye that he did not want to scoop the ice cream, just eat it. Again, Tye's confused look made an appearance. But for the most part, it was a success.

Now, I am not saying that I have a Michael Phelps on my hands and we are certainly not heading off to Beijing anytime soon, but at least I think that I have a Pike. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a date with a Pike and the Cracker Barrel.