Monkey...Airplane...Soldier

Each year our kids take swimming lessons from the Guy family. For the last couple years, Josh and Andrew have made great strides in their swimming abilities. Sarah, well, she's been working more on the social aspect of swim lessons. This year, we decided to only enroll Andrew and Sarah. Neither one passed their level last year: Andrew did very well, but the end of level testing was very difficult and Sarah...she just talked her way through lessons last time.

This year was a different story. From the first day, I could see Sarah had stepped up her efforts. It was so exciting to watch. Andrew continued to do wonderfully as well. Sarah and Andrew were very aware of the testing day and both wanted to pass to the next level. Sarah did a fantastic job...swimming across the deep end unassisted and she even did her "monkey, airplane, soldier" or elementary backstroke. Yay! She passed her level. It was so cute to see her feel so good about herself.

Next was Andrew's turn. Since he is in a higher level, his requirements are much more demanding. He had to swim 2 (long) lenghts of the pool doing the front crawl, then tread water for 1 min. followed immediately by 1 length of the elementary backstroke. After a few minutes of rest, 1 length of the butterfly, 1 length of breast stroke, 1 min of a backfloat, finished with 2 lengths of the backcrawl. Very physically demanding! Well, Andrew only had 1/2 length to go to complete the requirement when he got sick and threw up at the side of the pool. I think he may have swallowed water and was just exhausted and nervous. He felt really embarassed and was very upset. Bless his heart, I felt so bad for him. He didn't want to get back in the pool, but I knew he'd regret not finishing his chance to pass his level. He agreed to try again when the class was over. I could tell he was even more nervous, but bravely entered the pool. He had to start the whole 2nd series again. He struggled, but kept pushing...I could tell on his face he was determined to finish. AND...HE DID! I was so very proud of him...so proud that he pushed himself so hard; mentally and physically. I love this picture that shows a big smile through his eyes that were teary just minutes earlier.

I loved seeing the pride and satisfaction they both felt when they succeeded. The next morning, Sarah held her certificate and happily said to Andrew, "I can't believe we did it! We passed our level!" Fabulous, fabulous job and big kudos to both Sarah and Andrew. I am so proud of you!