When Marquis was young, he took swimming lessons. As he got older he joined a swimming team, and then later started playing water polo. If there is a body of water anywhere close by, you can bet Marquis is trying to figure out how to go play in it. He loves the water! I have never seen someone more comfortable and confident in the water than Marquis.
Now let's talk about me. Marquis and I have an awful lot in common, but our comfort and abilities in the water are not, NOT, NOT!!! the same. At all. Even a little bit. I remember going swimming as a kid and being very happy just splashing around near the side of the pool with one hand always on the side to keep me safe. This was where I could touch the bottom of the pool, and it was embarrassingly not when I was all that little. When I hit about 12 years old I finally got comfortable enough to put my face in the water and maybe even sometimes let go of the side of the pool.
We finally signed Sweetheart up for swimming lessons this summer. I had a suspicion that Sweetheart took a little more after me in this regard, but these swimming lessons definitely confirmed it. I saw so much of me as I watched her splash around trying to keep her face out of that pool!
On the second day of lessons, they did five minutes of free time at the end. Sweetheart surprised me by running right over to the slide and climbing up that ladder. Then she stood there at the top for just a few minutes, and in a timid voice said, "Guys? This is really high!" before climbing back down the ladder.
It was a pretty cold day, and between that and my girl being so timid, I totally expected her to get back in the pool right away. Instead, she surprised me again by bravely marching right over to the diving board.
Poor Sweetheart doesn't have an ounce of fat on her body to keep her warm, but I don't know if her shivering at this point was from the cold, or because she suddenly realized that this was a great, big, scary thing that she was about to do. She stood there shivering so long and so hard that all the other moms gathered around the pool started to laugh, and one of them even said, "She won't have to jump off, she is just going to shake herself right off that diving board!"
Eventually, though, one of the teachers talked her into taking their hand and hopping in.
Then she actually got out, ran around and did it again. I was so proud!
After that day, though, she never did do the slide or the diving board again. She would occasionally want to just go sit on the side of the pool during free time, and I could tell that she was seriously thinking about giving it another try, but just never made it back over to the diving board.
Poor little girl, inheriting my fear of the water!
Even though she still didn't want to put her face in the water by the end, I could see huge improvements. I'm so glad we did it, and she had a great time, too!
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