Like a Koala Bear in Water

We started swim lessons this week & have two under our belt so far - they are going swimmingly! Oh, how I crack myself up.

Anyways...

Liam absolutely loves the water my only BUT is that he is clinging to me like a koala bear to a eucalyptus tree. This normally indicates that he is unsure of his surroundings & will not participate in anything you ask of him if it requires him to switch positions. When we encounter the wild koala bear, it takes a few times of doing that thing before he warms up enough to participate fully. And I've already seen that happening!

We use "tools" in the water and although he uses them properly, he doesn't want to let go of it when it's time to use the next one - we have a watering can, a ball (GOL!) and a noodle (newnew) - and I have to pry each one from his hands to move onto the next task.

Liam is a shy boy, almost to the point of being a Lone Wolf. When all the kids at playgroup are in the room playing with toys, he's in the kitchen staring out a window, eating his snacks. When all the kids are in the kitchen, eating their snacks, he's in the play room playing alone with all the toys. He will usually warm up & will discontinue his calls for Mama!Mama! right about the time has come for us to leave. He's quiet too around other kids in other houses but is not when in his own house so I know it's just the new surroundings that is contributing to his shyness. Mama was shy almost to the point of painful when she was little & I think it's safe to say she grew out of it ;)

With all that said, I knew that Liam just had to warm up to the idea of going to swim lessons; and after his second class, I can say that this has successfully occurred!

He gave up the tools a little easier each time, even went to his teacher to practice with her (stranger! danger!), peacefully went onto his back, correctly held onto the noodle (newnew!), attempted to BLOW BUBBLES BY HIMSELF and then successfully spit the water out of his mouth when that went awry AND by far his Most Favorite Thing Ever is to JUMP IN THE POOL BY HIMSELF. Even asking "Agan?" before he's barely even finished his jump!

I do think if I had started him earlier in structured classes he totally would have been easier to manipulate into doing what I wanted him to do, but now that's a pinch more Independent it has become tougher for me to control all aspects of his movements, you know? But knowing his koala bear tendencies helps me remain hopeful & able to focus on just getting him comfortable so that when he's ready to climb down from the tree he's got all the trust & faith that Mama will be there for him when he is at that point.

His classes are on Monday & Wednesday but Matias has soccer practice on Wednesdays so I don't know how many classes he'll be able to make it to. I asked that he arrange his schedule so that he can take him on Monday's (I'll go, of course, someone has to take the pictures!) and I'll take him on Wednesdays...I hope that works out because he needs to be comfortable with BOTH of us, separate of each other. Also, this stinking 30 minute class is like 30 minutes of pure SQUATS workout and whoa, doggie, that's a lot of squatting. ;)