A Giant Leap Forward for Our Giant Sea Turtle (and His Little Sister, Too!)

Almost three years ago we registered little Benjamin for his first swimming lessons. He was in the preschool program's entry-level course, which made him a Sea Turtle.

Benjamin had a great time swimming, playing games, and blowing bubbles in the water. When his classes ended, his teacher recommended that he register again for Sea Turtle, since he needed a little more work on some of the skills.

Being conscientious parents who wanted our boy to learn to swim, we immediately signed Ben up for another set of lessons in the Sea Turtle category.

Now, three years later, we have repeated this scenario so many times I can't remember how many weeks of Sea Turtle Ben has endured. He hasn't seemed to notice, though, that he is by far the tallest, oldest, and most verbally advanced Sea Turtle in the pool.

 

As spring came around again, both Ben and Janae showed interest in swimming lessons. Janae wanted to learn to swim like a mermaid, and Ben wanted to swim like a pirate (didn't he mean turtle?).

Anyway, since Benjamin is now in kindergarten, I thought I could register him for the entry-level class for school-aged children (with the much less humiliating title of "Swim Kids I"). Janae, of course, would be a Sea Turtle.

I went online to sign them up, and found that since Ben is not yet 6, he is still in the preschool program, making him--yet again--a Sea Turtle. I wasn't sure how well it would go over to have him in a class with Janae, but I registered them both and hoped for the best.

Last night we had our first lesson. With memories of ballet class still fresh in my mind, I had Jason take the two older kids into the pool for their lessons while I went to hide in the baby pool with Alaina.

Peeking up over the edge of the baby pool, I caught a few glimpses of the Sea Turtle lesson. It seemed to be going okay, but of course I wasn't wearing contacts, and I couldn't really hear anything from that far away.

Jason came to join me, saying Ben and Janae were both doing fine.

Jason's idea of fine is not always the same as mine, but I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to focus on Alaina--it was her first time at a pool.

I kept looking over at the Sea Turtles and couldn't help but notice that things actually did seem okay over there.

Thirty minutes later, Jason went to retrieve our Turtles while I waited in the baby pool. Benjamin and Janae were both so excited, bobbing up and down and laughing happily.

Then Ben started ducking under water and coming up. Not the timid, careful ducking that he'd done in the past--he went straight down and came up like a torpedo. Completely wet--water in his eyes and nose--and he didn't care! I couldn't believe it. Was it possible . . . could it be . . . I didn't even know the name of the class that came after Sea Turtle!

And Janae. She stayed the full half hour, listened to the teacher--she didn't cry, scream, try to leave. Amazing!

It might be too early to say this, but I think by the end of the month we might actually have two Salamanders (I looked it up!).

I'd say it's a giant leap for both of them :)