An Eel in the Family

I'm going to brag on my kid for a moment. Now, I know that it's normal to be proud of your child and I try not to act as if the sun rises and sets on mine (although we all know that it does, don't we?), but I'm going to go ahead and take a moment to be all braggy and then I'll stop. Bear with me or don't read this post. :)

The small fry is attending swim lessons at the local Y. She is 3 and so are the other kids in her class, all boys. One of them, Sam the Crier, is slowly mastering his deathly fear of the pool. The first day he cried the whole half hour and tried to leave the pool altogether more than once. I gathered from listening to his grandmother and the instructor talking that this is his second time taking lessons.

Delia has never had fear of water, of having water in her face, that sort of thing. She is uneasy in deep water and understands that whole thing about you need to be able to keep your head above water, I don't mean that she's unaware of the dangers, but if she is in water that is not too deep she will happily play and splash. She has been known to stay in the tub for upwards of a couple of hours and still protest when it's time to finally get out.

This is also her second time in lessons. She went in June, twice a week for four weeks. After the second lesson I found her submerging herself in her bathwater and creeping around on the bottom of the tub, repeatedly, for fun. She leaps into her kiddie pool with impunity. Other moms and grandmas come up to me at the pool and ask me whether we have a pool at home after they watch her throwing herself into the water like a sea lion.

Today the instructor had the kids hold her hands with theirs in the time honored V-in-front position while she pulled them a short way in the shallow water. When it was Delia's turn, she let her go and watched her glide through the water, kicking her feet. Then she asked Delia to lay on her back in the water, which Delia happily did, allowing the instructor to tip her chin up so that her ears were under water. The instructor then stood up and asked, "Whose is this one? How old is she? 3? She's ready for Eel. That's unusual for someone under 6 years old." After the lesson she came and told me that she's way ahead of most kids in how comfortable she is in the water. Now comes the coordination and the attention span development.

OK, all done bragging. :)