Saturday, April 12, 2014

How Teachers are Born

Cole finally loves swimming lessons.
And last Thursday evening, just a few minutes before we were slotted to leave for swimming lessons, he announced that his ear hurt. It had, he declared, been hurting all day. So my husband took him to the walk-in clinic and he had to miss swimming lessons. Fin. Du. Monde.

To console a heart-broken beached little boy, I promised we could go to the Family Swim on Saturday.
So on Saturday, I packed my own bathing suit and the kids' bathing suits and headed to the Leisure Pool (code for very shallow and very warm, a bit like a glorified bath that you share with about twenty of your nearest and dearest).

Cole loves the Leisure Pool because he can touch and keep his head above water wherever he is. This is great because his version of swimming looks  a lot like drowning, but he can sustain it for a few seconds and then he puts his feet down. Amelia hangs out on the stairs or she perches on my outstretched arm and glides along happily.

Suddenly, Cole called to Amelia, "Do you want me to teach you how to swim?" And Amelia replied in her Amelia-type way, "Sure!"

So Amelia and I sat on the steps and Cole demonstrated all the types of swimming he'd learned. First there was the front glide. The back glide (apparently, the arms are different, I guess I wouldn't pass Swim Kids 3). And then the Bear Glide. It was obvious Cole was holding his fingers in the shape of a claw as he did this, which made me giggle because I'm pretty sure that's not technically very aerodynamic. Following this was the Lion Glide and then the Falcon Glide. Then the Watermelon Glide, which looked a lot like drowning. I stood close my son and smiled reassuringly at the Life Guard so she would know that I-got-this.

After the presentation of all the glides, I said to Cole, "Wow! Your teachers are VERY creative to find all these neat names for the glides." (I know she takes them on imaginary expeditions through jungles and to the Arctic - this seems very in-keeping with those themes).

But Cole shook his head, "Oh, this isn't what my teacher calls them. I'm just trying to make it interesting for Amelia!"

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