Guppy

Summer means swim lessons in Mandyland. Chad and I are both adamant that Joseph becomes a world class swimmer. Not only because, really, he has the same general body type as Michael Phelps - and what parent doesn't think their child will become an Olympian - but also because we don't swim well at all. At some point, we're going to fall in the water and we need to be sure that Joseph will be able to save us. Hence...swim lessons.

The only problem with our little "turn the child into a swim star" plan is that Joseph doesn't really like the water. A true earth sign, he's much more comfortable on land. Unlike Benny, who turns his face into the tumbling water as it pours out of the faucet, Joseph hates getting his hair, eyes, nose, mouth, or ears wet. This bodes ill, every year, for swimming.

The last two summers have been spent in Mommy and Me classes. This year, however, Joseph's older. That means Level 1.

Side note: I really wish the rec department had cute little names for their levels. I'd so much rather Joseph be a "Guppy" than "Level 1". "Guppy" sounds cute and fun. "Level 1" reminds me of some sort of sci fi reference.

The first three days, Joseph's very patient instructor had to pull him into the water. He wouldn't let go of her hand and I feared that her swim suit top was going to be tugged off by my very apprehensive three-year-old.

Side note: I'm not sure I understand why the swim instructors wear bikinis. Granted, they're very sporty bikinis, but still.

Side, side note: Now I'm wondering if the young man who was lifeguarding those first three days stayed in our area in the hopes of a wardrobe malfunction.

Onward...

By Thursday, I was wondering if we'd made a mistake by moving Joseph away from Mommy and Me. It was awful to see his poor terrified face when the instructor let go of his hand. Then...he had a breakthrough.

We've been talking a lot about his little sister. We told him that he's going to need to teach her all sorts of things. After swimming on Wednesday, Joseph asked if he was going to need to teach his little sister to swim.

"Well, yes. But only if you learn to swim first."

He got a very serious look on his face and said, "Okay. I learn first and then I teach little sister and maybe other babies too."

Thursday arrived and my little Taurus blew bubbles, put his eyes underwater and even bounced around without holding on to the railing. He jumped in without being tugged and he floated on the noodle without holding the instructor's hand.

He has lessons the rest of this week and then he's signed up for another two weeks. We're keeping our fingers crossed that his long autumn, winter and spring pool hiatus won't send him back to the shallows. We're hoping that our little guppy becomes a trout.