tuesday was the first day of swim lessons. after about 10 minutes, they moved jakob up into zoe's class. (she wasn't nearly as excited as he was.) the lifeguards determined he could already do everything in the beginner class and 1/2 the things in the intermediate class. and he was thrilled. until they mentioned the diving board. the last 10 minutes they jump off the diving board, which jakob has successfully avoided his whole life. i agree, it's pretty scary. that sporadic board quietly waiting 5 feet above water to throw you into the darkest abyss. and the fact that zoe's been bouncing off that thing since she was 4 just makes him that much more defiant. i saw him clinging to the bar at the back, looking completely unsure of himself. so i quietly walked over and asked if he was ok. with tears in his eyes he mouthed, "i don't want to do this." my nurturing instinct kicked in and i assured him that if he didn't want to he didn't have to. then the cool teenage lifeguard said, "ok, jakob. you ready, buddy?" jakob wiped his eyes, gave the guy a quick nod and ran as fast as he could, ending with a pretty impressive cannonball. and he LOVED it! family swim...diving board. free time at swimming lessons...diving board. today he was doing flips. literally. flips. never a dull moment with this one.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
jakob vs. the diving board
tuesday was the first day of swim lessons. after about 10 minutes, they moved jakob up into zoe's class. (she wasn't nearly as excited as he was.) the lifeguards determined he could already do everything in the beginner class and 1/2 the things in the intermediate class. and he was thrilled. until they mentioned the diving board. the last 10 minutes they jump off the diving board, which jakob has successfully avoided his whole life. i agree, it's pretty scary. that sporadic board quietly waiting 5 feet above water to throw you into the darkest abyss. and the fact that zoe's been bouncing off that thing since she was 4 just makes him that much more defiant. i saw him clinging to the bar at the back, looking completely unsure of himself. so i quietly walked over and asked if he was ok. with tears in his eyes he mouthed, "i don't want to do this." my nurturing instinct kicked in and i assured him that if he didn't want to he didn't have to. then the cool teenage lifeguard said, "ok, jakob. you ready, buddy?" jakob wiped his eyes, gave the guy a quick nod and ran as fast as he could, ending with a pretty impressive cannonball. and he LOVED it! family swim...diving board. free time at swimming lessons...diving board. today he was doing flips. literally. flips. never a dull moment with this one.
