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Mother's day and swim lessons.
Today was a pretty good Mother's Day, overall. I got a sweet booklet Drew made at school about things he likes to do with me / things I like / things he likes about me, and if it was prompted, the answers were pure Drew. (What do I like to do with him? Clean! And it shows a picture of him scrubbing the floor of the bathroom and grinning. Actually, I did like that - I just had to squeeze the water out of the mop for him, as he's not strong enough for the lever mechanism yet.) I got a heart card that Ian made with fingerprints all over it (day care supplied the heart card and wrote his name, he supplied the fingerprints). And a couple chunks of Lush soap. Yay. :)
This weekend is also when we learned the boys' level placements for next session of swim lessons. Ian was still water safety 2 - no surprise. We can get him in the pool, but we can't make him want to do it or make more than a half-hearted effort, and he really doesn't like it any more. Drew got our choice - water safety 3 one more time or stroke 1. He has all the skills but a little more practice wouldn't hurt, they say. He's bored. to. tears. And has been for at least a whole session, maybe more. A little more practice would hurt!
Talked to the boys. The upshot is that Ian is quitting swimming lessons for now (because doing ridiculous registration, paying over $200 for three months, and coaxing and badgering kiddo to the pool so he can fail to learn are not fun). Drew also got a choice (because the requirement was about safety, and he's out of the safety levels - but if he quits swim lessons, he loses his chance at open swim too). Drew elected to keep taking lessons. I let him pick which level, and he picked stroke 1 - no surprise there. Last session, there was a stroke 1 class at the same time and sometimes they only had one student. Drew got to shift up several times and even though he was working above his level and below theirs, he LOVED it. I think he made the right choice.
We'll wait the summer out, but if my new job settles in well into our life routines, I think I may ask Ian if he wants to try gymnastics. (Maybe martial arts, but gymnastics seems likely to suit him better.) Since that's not a safety issue and he is not a lazy pants and gets plenty of exercise left to his own devices, this would be purely a "do you want?" and not a "you must pick something" situation. Although, oh God, now I'm envisioning him taking those skills and using them at day care, and the conversations we'd get to have....
This weekend is also when we learned the boys' level placements for next session of swim lessons. Ian was still water safety 2 - no surprise. We can get him in the pool, but we can't make him want to do it or make more than a half-hearted effort, and he really doesn't like it any more. Drew got our choice - water safety 3 one more time or stroke 1. He has all the skills but a little more practice wouldn't hurt, they say. He's bored. to. tears. And has been for at least a whole session, maybe more. A little more practice would hurt!
Talked to the boys. The upshot is that Ian is quitting swimming lessons for now (because doing ridiculous registration, paying over $200 for three months, and coaxing and badgering kiddo to the pool so he can fail to learn are not fun). Drew also got a choice (because the requirement was about safety, and he's out of the safety levels - but if he quits swim lessons, he loses his chance at open swim too). Drew elected to keep taking lessons. I let him pick which level, and he picked stroke 1 - no surprise there. Last session, there was a stroke 1 class at the same time and sometimes they only had one student. Drew got to shift up several times and even though he was working above his level and below theirs, he LOVED it. I think he made the right choice.
We'll wait the summer out, but if my new job settles in well into our life routines, I think I may ask Ian if he wants to try gymnastics. (Maybe martial arts, but gymnastics seems likely to suit him better.) Since that's not a safety issue and he is not a lazy pants and gets plenty of exercise left to his own devices, this would be purely a "do you want?" and not a "you must pick something" situation. Although, oh God, now I'm envisioning him taking those skills and using them at day care, and the conversations we'd get to have....