Instead of putting Wes into summer preschool I wanted to make sure we had time for lots of summery things. Like swimming lessons. Wesley started swim lessons when he was three at a local home with a swimming pool in their backyard. The classes are taught by the homeowner’s adult children. I like it because the lessons are 45 minutes with two kids per teacher. Wes likes it because he has time to sit on the steps of the pool, splashing and just being in the water while the teacher takes a turn with the other student, plus at the end of class he gets to go down the water slide and jump off the diving board.

I’d say Wes likes EVERYTHING about being in the water. When it was time to get ready for swim lessons in the morning Wes would stop whatever he was doing and miraculously start doing whatever I asked him to do. He just wanted to get in that pool. He especially loves splashing and would yell, “SPLASH!” (“SPWASH!”, actually) on the way to the pool.

Last year, because Wes was in summer preschool he only had time for one week of lessons. This year in June I kept him in for three. Wes was in heaven.

At the start of the first week I observed Wes in the pool, and observed the other kids in the pool, and I wondered if Wes would ever really learn to swim. He loves being in the water, no question, but I didn’t see him making progress like the other kids were. He mostly liked to look over his shoulder as his teacher pulled him across the pool so he could watch the splashes his feet made as he kicked. He also liked splashing bystanders.

In the middle of the second week Wes started putting his eyes in the water. This was progress!

I bought him (and Carissa) goggles, but he would not wear them. Carissa wore them more than he did, and she wasn’t even in the water. They were her accessory of choice.

At the end of the second week I told his teacher I was signing him up for one more and that I hoped that was OK with her. Her response surprised me. She said that she was glad because Wes was one of her favorite students and a joy to work with. I guess I had thought that since Wes wasn’t making a lot of clear progress that he wasn’t a star student.

In the third week Wes started jumping off the diving board by himself. He used to sit on the edge and wait for his teacher to pull him in. This was progress!

As the third week neared an end his teacher said she really enjoyed working with Wes because he was willing to do whatever she asked him to do and was very sweet. (This is true; I saw some kids throwing fits and crying, but Wes–fearless as he is–was willing to do whatever his teacher asked.)

So swim lessons were a success. Wes had so much fun.