Tales of a Swimmer in the Making

Hi everyone!

I thought I'd blog about Jackson's latest adventure into swimming. I'll start with his swim lesson 1 week ago and also his 1st swim lesson. Let's just say after this 1st lesson, I wasn't so sure that I'd have a swimmer on my hands. As soon as we hit the water, I immediately felt his grip around my neck tighten, so much so I wasn't sure if he was ever going to let go. Jackson totally redefined the words death grip at his 1st swim lesson. I'm not sure how his grip couldn't gotten any tighter on my neck, but it did from time to time as he panicked about little things. He also whimpered and cried just about the whole time. No matter what I did to calm him, he wasn't about to have it. Poor kid! I thought for sure he'd love swimming, but after the first lesson, I just thought that swimming was going to be like pulling his hair out for him! Of course, the class just had to have a chain reaction to my son's sheer terror. So as the boy next to him heard Jackson's whimpers, he started in and then the next kid and so on and so forth until the whole class was crying by the end of the lesson. It also didn't help that one of the stupid lifeguards decided to use the very loud and very noisy diving board to show off. Scared the crap out of the kids and my normally quiet self almost reamed him a new one, but he stopped before my patience level was all but gone. I felt horrible for the teacher b/c she just couldn't make any of them happy! She didn't seem to mind though and she kept her cool. She seemed used to it probably :0)

So as our 2nd lesson approached, I decided to give swimming another go. I was hoping that he liked it a little more the 2nd time around and that he would loosen up a little bit. LUCKILY, he did! It took him about 10 minutes, but he finally loosened up and even smiled and giggled a little bit. It was awesome! I could dunk him without him being so fearful and I also was able to get him to kick a little bit and float a little bit by himself (I had my hands under him and he let his arms let go of my neck). It was precious and I was so relieved! Phew...I hope he continues to like it b/c I really don't want him to be scared of the water. We are going to be living for a few weeks right across from a pool at our apartment complex before our house is finished, so I want to be able to take him every day. Can't wait!

So, we're in the home stretch folks. This is the last few weeks of our Oklahoman adventure. We're both excited and scared, but I think more excited than scared. We literally have just a few days less than a month. Our house is coming right along and I think it'll be ready sooner than we expected so we can move in and close sooner. We close on this house on April 30th, so just a few more weeks of home ownership of our 1st house. Kinda strange to think about, but such is life! Right now, I'm just trying to spend time with my growing boy, finish up stuff for my current job, and try not to worry to much about not getting an interview yet in South Carolina. I'm hoping to hear within the next few weeks though about interviewing down there. As for my current job, I've finished my sub plans and now I'm working on getting the rest of the little things done, so I don't leave the library in utter disarray for the next person. As for my little man, he's doing great! I think he's getting bigger and taller and I think he'll be walking soon. He can take a few steps before he goes kersplat, but not a whole lot on his own...thank goodness. It's hard enough keeping up with him while he's crawling all over the place. Right now, I think he's working on getting his 2 top teeth in b/c he's back to biting everything including me! He bit me so hard this morning that he left teeth marks! OUCH! Other than that, he's just reading up a storm and playing with all his toys and talking and dancing and singing. He still doesn't say mama yet, but hopefully soon :0) He sure is a happy little man. His 1st birthday will be next month and we're having a big party. If you didn't get an invite, let me know! It's going to be a ton of fun and I can't wait to celebrate so many exciting things happening. Stay tuned for what will come next...