The Story of Mr. Sneaky Pants and the Sad, Sad Swimming Lesson

Swimming lessons continue to be a huge event around here, highly anticipated all day long, by everyone except maybe me:  I feel like I’m in a sauna the whole time I am sitting there watching them swim.  Yesterday Mr. Sneaky Pants jumped in the pool, put on his goggles, and then  his teacher told the class to warm up with some bobs.  He over-enthusiastically did an extra, extra big bob, and somehow smashed his lip on the side of the pool.  Since it was bleeding, he had to spend some time with the life guard in the office, holding a piece of gauze up to his face.  He chatted with the lifeguard enthusiastically and the blood flow eventually slowed down, so the life guard took him back to the side of the pool in order that  he could watch the rest of the lessons until his lip completely stopped bleeding.  Mr. Sneaky Pants was very cheerful and compliant.  He watched carefully as the other kids swam and jumped from the side of the pool into deep water, and dove down for rings.  But as the lesson progressed, his lip did not stop bleeding, and I could see that he was getting more and more concerned that he would not have a chance to do anything in the pool.  He held it together until the end of lessons, when his teacher gave him a special smile and a little hug and told him he could do all the fun things tomorrow when he wasn’t bleeding.  He looked over at me with teary eyes, and then climbed in my practically non-existant lap and cried and cried.  What a wasted day!  One measly bob, and that was IT!  He was sure the teacher would forget and not do all of those fun things the next day.  It was torture.  He was so miserable.

But, lo and behold, today they DID get to do all the same things, and he did them exuberantly.  (Although he was especially careful when bobbing).  He’s quite the fish.  Next week he’s moving up a level to activities and strokes that incorporate more coordination.  That makes his big, fat lip a little more tolerable.