swim time

The Bird is in swimming lessons.  This is nothing new and is pretty typical (yay...what a fun word) for most kids during summer vacation.

Last year, she was in level 2 the whole summer...three sessions worth of level 2.  She did not pass.  So this year, we signed her up for level 2 (the Turtle group) once again.  We were resigned to the fact that she may be a turtle forever.  We even thought it was kind of ironic since turtles seem to follow her wherever we go (no lie...they have this thing called Tortoise Town at our zoo and they stampede her.)  This was a hard realization for us (the level 2 forever...not the tortoise stampede) because when she was just a little bit, she loved the water.  She could swim by age 18 months and loved the water.  She had seizures from about 2 weeks old but at around that two year mark, she had some doozies.  And her meds were messing with her.  And the combination...well...she still loved the water but lost all her skills.  She also gained fear.  No slides and no swimming without clinging to a parent or sibling and absolutely NO DUNKING OF THE HEAD.

So...like a lot of things...we gave up the dream of Olympic swimming glory and focused on fun.  Each lesson session she was getting a little more brave and she really does love the water.  A parent of a child with special needs often has to defer dreams or fashion new dreams from old ones.  It's a wonderful skill and it breaks your heart a little, every time.

This summer, during the second session of swimming lessons (we missed the first because we were traveling across country in a honda civic...for real...all 5 of us (3 over 6 feet tall) in a honda civic) we signed her up for the turtle group and camped out on the picnic bench to water our girl swim.

Lo and behold...she was getting it.  She got her face wet.  She dunked her head.  SHE JUMPED OFF THE SIDE!!!  She even went down the slide...WITH NO ONE TO CATCH HER!!  After the second session, her swimming lesson instructor (really...the nicest teenage boy on the planet) handed her her report card.  She passed...not only did she pass...she passed with flying colors...like A++ flying colors.  I cried.  Daddy cried.  Her swim instructor cried.  Onto the shark group she would go.

And...as a side note...can I say how wonderful it is to have blessings like her swimming instructor in our lives.? Here is a teenage boy, so vested in her success, that he can actually shed some tears when she does so well!!  Her PCA is stellar and has worked and worked and worked with her this summer to get her comfortable in the water again...to push her just past her comfort zone while still supporting her.  She is also a lifeguard.  Her PCA and the instructor text each other about our Bird.  Her success is a group effort for sure.

This is the first week of shark lessons.  They are two weeks long.  I am under no delusion that she will pass sharks.  We will be doing at least one more session of level 3 but that is OK.  It is more than OK.  It is wonderful.

Today, we took her to the pool to swim together: her, her daddy, and me.  She went off the diving board.  THE DIVING BOARD!!!  On her own.  Her little legs trying to make the board bounce before she threw herself off the end.  Into the 12 feet.  With no one to catch her.

Again and again and again.

She practiced her dives.  Crouched on one knee...arms high above her head, belly flopping right off the side.

And...as her Daddy and I cheered and hooted, I looked over at the lifeguard on his chair.  Her instructor had a big grin and was whooping right along with us.

It really does take a village and I am so honored to belong to this one.

Oh...and watch out Michael Phelps....my girl is a SHARK!!!