2017 Life Logs, Day 215: Last Day of Swim Lessons
Date: Thursday, August 3, 2017
Weather: Hazy AM, Clear and Sunny PM; High 84, Low 65 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
During the first summer of Camp Oma in 2013 Sam and Jonah swim lessons in the fresh water pond at Goodwill Park. Then last summer we had lessons at Falmouth Heights Beach. Sam has always loved being in the water, but he didn’t really enjoy swim lessons. Jonah always had a fear of putting his head in the water and he didn’t enjoy swim lessons either. Both boys were very reluctant to participate in lessons this year, but we persisted and today I couldn’t have been a prouder Oma. Today was the last day of lessons for 2017 and both Sam and Jonah made tremendous progress. Sam is becoming a competitive swimmer and Jonah has overcome his fear of the water. Hallelujah! And even though they might not admit it, I think both Sam and Jonah will actually miss the swim lessons. Things really clicked for them this summer. Their instructor was a rough and tumble young man named Michael and his assistant was Lauren—quiet and caring. The two of them made a great team, but even they were shocked at Jonah’s magical turn-about this week.
Last week I started playing a beach football game with Jonah. If he won, I had to go under water. I got dunked many times and all of sudden, Jonah decided he could put that head of his underwater as well. He has worn his ladybug floaties for as long as I can remember, but today he me take them out of the car and put them in the basement. He said he doesn’t need them anymore, and he doesn’t. He is not a strong swimmer yet, but he can tread water and can swim a short distance free style. Ollie was not old enough for ‘official’ lessons, but he has had lesson with Oma every day and he has made great progress as well. The boys are excited to go to the swim meet on Monday. Sam is going to participate in the free style competition and Jonah might as well. The swim classes made posters today and we bought Falmouth Heights bright red t-shirts that the boys will wear to the swim meet on Monday to show their pride in being part of the Heights team. Swim teams from the other town beaches will be doing the same. It should be a lot of fun. And we celebrated the end of successful swim lessons today by buying large shaved-ice flavored cones. Happy boys!
We had an extended lunch at Oma’s today. I put out the makings for personal pizzas and let the boys build their own pizzas on English muffins.
This was a big hit. And Sam set about putting together the two new deck chairs that arrived yesterday. Last August Mark and I bought two bar-height chairs for the deck. Since there have been only two chairs and three little boys, it has been a constant battle for who gets to sit in the tall chairs. Now we will all have tall chairs. And I was amazed at Sam’s ability to look at the directions and start the assembly process with no help from me.
