Week One: Update

Well, after five days of swimming lessons, I absolutely could not be happier with Daniel's progress. (I suppose I'd be happier if he was doing backflips off the high dive, but let's try and stay focused here, shall we?)

He only cried twice all week, and both times were fairly minor. He is strong in the water, a natural floater, and a very fast learner. He is already opening his eyes (constantly) under water, kicking to move himself forward, pulling himself up and almost out of the water, floating on his own, and just enjoying himself thoroughly. He does everything with a huge smile on his face continually echoing, "I want to do it again!"

Daniel talks about his accomplishments all day long - even when he cried when Ms. Tammy made him open his eyes underwater, the rest of the day I'll hear, "Mommy! I go underwater and open my eyes!" And the next day he doesn't protest a bit during lessons.

His self-confidence seems boosted in other areas as well. I can't be sure that it's because of the lessons, but the timing is pretty coincidental. He even helped me vaccum the living room the other day (and used to run to the farthest corner of the house the second I brought it out of the closet). This may sound like no big deal, but for Daniel, it's huge. His confidence is growing.

In honor of him learning to "float like a starfish", we made Jell-O starfish jigglers (each, accidentally, with it's own facial emotion. My favorite is "angry starfish".) They were red... but some details are just lost on black and white photography.

This is only week one of six... that high dive goal might be achievable after all.