Feats of Amazing Progress, or the Life of a 3 year old Bam

Part Two

Bam is his own man. He always has been. He knows his own mind and there is little I or anyone else can seemingly do to change that mind once made. Not the most heartwarming trait in a three year old, but I'm hoping it will make him a bullet proof teen and a strong, honest, ethical man some day.

Last summer, we thought that swim lessons would be a good thing for Bam, especially because of the 10,000 gallons of chlorinated water we keep fenced in the backyard. Despite the obvious safety perks and the really cool teacher we found for him as well as home pool advantage (she came to our pool), Bam had other fully formed ideas on the subject: he would have none of it. I argued and cajoled him; nothing. I bribed and bargained; nothing. Finally, I threatened: either you do swimming lessons or you go take a nap. Bam's answer? I go take nap now, mommy. And he did, willingly, every time he saw his teacher round the corner to our house to teach the other more malleable children, Bam would go upstairs and voluntarily take a nap. All summer long when we would have family fun time in the pool, he was iffy on the subject of water. At best, he would sit on the top stair of the unheated hot tub, clad in a life vest. At worst, he would refuse to even come outside. The downside of this behavior of course was that he still had no clue of basic water safety. The upside was that he wouldn't go near enough to any water of consequence to make that a concern. I didn't push the issue.

This summer a member of our ward volunteered for swimming lesson duty. He had the children come to his home for level assessments early in the summer. I asked him to "assess" Bam as well. Bam's assessment consisted of seeing whether he'd even get in the water. Imagine my amazement when Bam willingly climbed in the water with his new teacher. He loved swimming lessons. Each Tuesday and Thursday throughout the month of June, Bam has spent a half hour in the pool with Bro. K having a delightful private swimming lesson (Bam's classmate bowed out after her mother couldn't get her in the water at all--we sympathize) I attribute the success of these lessons to Bro. K's amazing gifts as a swim teacher, (as underscored by how he teaches and encourages the bigger kids and their classmates) although the fact that he was Bam's nursery leader at church last year can't possibly hurt.

We've finished the month of lessons now. Bro. K apologized for not actually teaching Bam to swim. I don't know that I have been successfully able to convey my gratitude for what he did teach Bam (and no, I didn't expect Bam to grow from complete pool avoidance to master of the 4 major strokes in 8 lessons). In 8 short lessons, Bam has gone from scowling at the thought of getting in the pool to this:



this:




and this:


Amazing!