Ricardo started swimming lessons this week with Monica. He was so exicted when I told him the night before but tears came the next morning when it looked, to him, that we weren't going. His experience of a pool is that we all put our bathing suits on, grab a towel and walk to the hotel pool. Instead I was putting his suit and towel in a bag and Ali was collecting her stuff for school. I tried to explain but the tears continued until we had dropped Ali off and were half way to the pool and I keep repeating that he was going swimming now. He was nervous when we got to the pool, which must have looked strange to him as it was in a building and there were no palm trees. And because I work for the local Parks and Rec Departmen everyone knew who he was when we entered the building. They were all excited to see him.
Once he saw Monica on the deck, his nervousness began to fade. And there was no problem in the pool. He was smiling the whole time.
Today, he was excited that we were going to the pool again and there were no tears. He knew that we would go once we dropped Ali at school. This time, as we were driving, he kept saying, "the pool's not here." And I would respond that it was still 5 minutes away. This conversation continued until we reached the pool.
He made great strides today putting his head in the water and even swimming on his own for about 15 seconds. Again, he was smiling the whole time.
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