Last summer, my daughter and I took my oldest grandson (B) to the Embassy Suites in Tulsa. He has talked about it ever since and wanted to go again this year. This time we took his brother (L), too, but this time we stayed right here in Oklahoma City.
I wish I had a recorder so I could have recorded all their hilarious comments the last two days. I feel very protected because I now know that my 4 year old has already killed a bear. He told me this yesterday so that I would know it would be okay to leave him at the table alone while I ordered my breakfast.
In just two days, 48 hours of swimming or so it seemed to me, B made 100% progress in the water. Much to our chagrin, he is an overly cautious child and extremely fearful of trying anything that he remotely thinks of as dangerous. Unlike L who spent most of the swim time under water, B would hardly put his face in the water, let alone go under the first day. I decided that I would spend most of my time with him and maybe I could build up his confidence a bit. This may have involved a promised dollar, but hey, whatever works and besides I am Nana. Once he put his head under water he was absolutely thrilled. You could just see his little face beam with pride. I told him that I learned to swim (not that I can actually swim, but I can get from one end of the pool to the other) by practicing over and over and if he can touch bottom, then he could just put his feet down, rest, and start again. I am proud to say that after two days, he can now swim about 12 to 15 feet.
It is so much fun to be in the water with a 7 year old because they are not yet at that age where they have to act "cool". They aren't embarrassed that Nana is in the pool. They aren't embarrassed to act excited when they finally put their head under water. They aren't embarrassed to ask Nana to watch them. I know that soon, maybe even next year, his sweet innocence may be gone. I saw glimpses of that this year. Any swim aides came off and were thrown out of the water as soon as little girls came to the pool. Does that mean that Nana's pool days are numbered?
Memory: I was den mother to my son's cub scouts. On summer we took them to summer camp where one of the requirements was to swim across the pool unassisted. I was so concerned whether he could do this as he was as timid and fearful as his nephew is today. You cannot imagine how proud I was of him as he swam across the pool by himself. I really couldn't embarrass him by screaming how proud I was in front of a couple hundred 7-9 year olds plus their counselors. I couldn't wait to get him alone and hold his little beaming face in my hands and tell him how proud I was.
Another memory was when I was about 10 years old visiting my Aunt Norma (I wrote about her a few blogs back) in Prague. She really thought I would enjoy swimming lessons at the city pool. This should have been a huge treat, but oh my gosh it was torture as I was so backwards, timid, and extremely shy, not to mention scared to death. The kids taking lessons were town kids and I was a country kid and I knew the difference was more than where we lived or so I thought. I didn't know one soul at that pool. I didn't talk to anybody and nobody sought me out. I was already missing my mom and having to endure those swimming lessons was gut wrenching. To this day, I can see my aunt setting on the bench under the trees right outside the pool fence waiting on me to finish and I can smell the dank concrete and see those metal bins where we stashed our possessions. All I wanted was to go home. Sometimes I still just want to go home.
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