AquaMAN

Mrs. Laura survived Cooper's first day of...

SWIMMING LESSONS!

Okay, just a little joke! He was really really good for her and I was so proud of him and extremely thankful for the patience and expertise of Laura. His first lesson was on Monday and he started dreading it on Sunday evening. The very first thing he said on Monday when he got up was "I don't want to do swimming lessons!" Oh boy, I thought, here we go! I got creative and decided we would swim before she got here so he'd already be in the pool and having fun. I also made a deal with the sweet Toni that Cooper could ride to VBS with her. I told him that ride depended on how he acted during swimming lessons. BINGO! His attitude totally changed...I'm not above bribery, coersion, manipulation...whatever it takes! He did so great for Mrs. Laura. She says he doesn't really need her but he does. All teachers know that a child will listen and perform better for a teacher who is NOT their parent. He went into lessons swimming underwater and with zero fear of the water. He would even jump off in the deep with no swimmies.

Mrs. Laura said he is so at ease in the water that he doesn't feel the urgency to kick very hard so they worked a lot on his kicking. I worked on my tan and watched through my lens.

She had to remnd him that he is not a frog with skin between his fingers so he has to swim with his fingers closed. He loved that so of course he would spread his fingers out over and over to get her to call him a frog. On Tuesday morning he was on the couch and I saw him spreading his fingers out and then making them into a paddle over and over! Cute!

Mrs. Laura also taught Claudia how to swim.

She is one awesome swimming teacher!