From Tears to Triumph

 

Okay, so I will admit that the title of this post may be a little dramatic...but nevertheless an accurate representation of the dramatic improvement we have witnessed in Reece and his love for swimming. We decided it was high time for the boy to overcome his fear of water so we enrolled him in a few weeks of swimming classes. We wanted to take advantage of the reduced summer prices and we liked that he would go for 1 hour a day for nearly 3 weeks. Reece was excited too...until the first day of classes began. He cried and did NOT want to enter the pool with his group of kids. A little force never hurt anyone, right? Well, the next day was reduced to a Mommy son wrestling match on the bed, trying to get his swimsuit on! (give me some credit, this was after an hour or so of patient convincing and time was running out...I was still patient, just once again, a little more forceful!) All of my friends told me to give it time, in 1 week he would be doing great. I didn't believe them! But...they were so right.

 

Although we paid for him to be in a group course...they assigned him to a private teacher who is incredible with kids who are afraid of the water. He slowly gained Reece's trust (and we gained a private class for a group rate - whooo-hoooo!) and now he is loving it! Reece has conquered his fear and is having so much fun learning new things. He has made lots of new friends wth the pool staff - they all come around to "high 5" him! It's cute. The videos below will show him during this last week of swimming lessons - just a week and a half after starting.

And his parents....well, we are proud. I am sure we look like idiots to the rest of the Mexican parents who are in the stands, reading a book or calmly watching their child swim laps. Us...we look just a little different - cheering his every move and capturing much of his advancement on camera! Way to go Reece - you have come a long way from those first days when you boldly told me to cancel all of the classes because you weren't going!!!!!! Reece's Daddy is already envisioning him on the swim team and competing in races....I guess we will just have to see. I already doubted once and was proven wrong so I will just have to see!

Don't feel bad if you don't want to watch the following videos - they are short - but may be of most interest to proud grandparents and aunts/uncles.