Owen rung in the new year by ringing his graduation bell at his swim class. All done with survival, now it's on to actual swimming! And here he is on the medal stand:
He did that by completing his airplanes (floating on his back and no kicking), turning to superman (face down in the water for 3 seconds, kicking allowed, hands together over the head), then flagpoles (on his side and doing a stroke) on the way back to airplane. He was fortunate to have his class, which normally has two other boys, all to himself, so he had a lot of instructor time. He did the above sequence the width of the pool, then did length of the pool, and after a short rest, the deck manager came to watch him do it. It took approximately 10 minutes but he did it.
That's just the simple version though. At a class in early December, he made it across the pool in his swimsuit, but to graduate, he had to do it again with pajamas (to simulate clothes). The instructor cautioned that it usually took kids a few sessions to adjust to the different sensation of the clothes. Still, on his first week in pajamas, Owen made it the width of the pool, so a manager came in watch him do the length.
And... nothing. His legs constantly drifted apart on his airplanes and then he'd kick, which ended up moving him the wrong direction. So that test got cut short. The following week, was a similar sequence: good across the width, technique breakdowns on the length. And then we missed a week since the facility was closed for Christmas.
Since the switch to swim class in PJs, we've built up graduating and what he needed to improve upon: keeping his legs together in airplane and not kicking, staying in superman for a long three seconds (he turns over pretty quick--a self defense mechanism, I'm sure, since it's dangerous to have your face submerged in water, and Owen is very big on self preservation), and scooping better in flagpole to get some movement. On the way to class last night, we talked about those three things, and concentrating on them the most. Of course Owen was concerned that then he wouldn't do the other things right if he was focused on those things. He was very excited to graduate, though, and was confident he would. To help the cause, I switched him from lightweight, but loose pants, to too small tight fitted pajamas to cut down on what I thought might be some sensation of drift with his legs.
The class went along as normal, decent across the width, making it the length, then having a short rest for the deck manager to come in and watch. I was hopeful, but still had doubts. He was doing a better job of staying in his supermans longer, but it was still inconsistent; his legs drifted in airplane, but he'd get them together to do make the turn. And the boy was tired--he didn't have a lot of rest in class, and he's only had one decent nap in the past two weeks. He was breathing pretty hard before the final length started. The instructor moved far away from him (the deck manager was on the pool deck). I started the recording above, but stopped as it looked like it was either going to take a long time, or he was going to be stopped again.
The benefit to having the class to himself was that they could give him as much time as he needed since there were no other kids to work with. He had a period half way in which he didn't move much, then made it to three quarters at a decent pace. Then he started to slow down. I gave him some encouraging words, then moved to the end of the pool. 80%, then 90% percent, then another pause. The wake from the end of the pool messed him up a bit. Three different times his head was almost next to the deck, but instead of turning and grabbing the wall, he pushed away from the wall, so what could have been 3 more cycles ended up being 9. He started to get visibly upset at this point, but the instructor told him to relax and take his time, and he soon made it!
Coming out of the pool, Owen wasn't excited. He was very tired, cold, and probably didn't enjoy the experience all that much. They had him do one more jump test (jump into the pool, turnaround in the water, and grab the wall), which he did well enough (he has had the tendency to turn in the air). So then he rang the bell, signifying his graduation. He then said he wanted to skip the play noodles and go home. He was flustered, so I picked him up and carried him to the changing room to take a shower (in a not warm shower area, waiting too long for the water to get warm), further upsetting him. I managed to coax a minor smile out of him on the medal stand, but he wasn't really in a great mood for the rest of the evening. But he did graduate.
What's left out of that perhaps-too-long narrative is my reaction to watching it happen. Joanne posted on Sophie starting to walk last time. What made that so special was that it felt like more than a milestone for Sophie, it was a true accomplishment. She's not quite 2 1/2, and we knew she'd walk some day, but still, with all she's been through and has to deal with, we couldn't be so certain that time was really near. If you watch the video, you can see Joanne crying (I did as well, though not in the recording).
And I cried a bit last night also. And it wasn't that him graduating was a big accomplishment, but his perseverance in doing so was. Owen's generally been a perfectionist in that if something is not right, it bothers him and then he gets upset and gives up/looks for help. When he tries to do something that doesn't go right, he struggles to want to try, try again. But last night he did. Sure, the situation was set up to make him persevere, but as a said, he got visible flustered near the end, but he was able regain enough composure to finish. I told him at least a dozen times that I was proud of him, proud of his effort, and proud of him accomplishing a goal he had set. He wanted to graduate last night. And he did.
