Tuesday I took Benjamin for his first official swimming lesson. A friend had set up a group lesson with one of the lifeguards at the embassy, a really nice guy named Ali. He's done lessons for older kids and this was an experiment for toddlers and the younger-ish crowd. Benjamin loves going in the pool, but I'd like for him to start getting comfortable with the motions of swimming and going underwater. On the way to the car, he fell and scraped his knees, which was a first. He got all scraped up and we had to go back inside to wash his legs before hurrying back to the car and rushing over to the embassy.
After getting us both covered in sunscreen we joined the rest of the group. It was rough, Ali blew in the kids faces and totally dunked them under, one at a time, over and over, until everyone was screaming and crying. Benjamin totally lost it, he kept crying to "get out the water" which was heartbreaking, but I kept him in the whole lesson, maybe 25 minutes. Afterwards we hung out in the kiddie pool for a few minutes. Part of the problem was probably the temperature, it was maybe 70 degrees when we got in and the water was super chilly.
We tried it again Wednesday with warmer weather, and a couple of the moms had some songs ready to make it less of a traumatic event. Benjamin still screamed and fussed, but mostly because Thomas had come down to see the debacle and Benjamin wanted him to take him into the water. Hopefully the next time will be smooth sailing. It definitely made an impression, Benjamin kept talking about going "under" (the water) and swim lessons.
In other news, please pray for Thomas's dad; he was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and will begin chemotherapy soon. It seems to be contained and in early stages, and they'll do surgery after chemo, so it sounds positive but obviously we're praying that God will grant full healing. Please pray for complete eradication of the cancer and hope and strength during treatment, for his dad and mom. It sucks to be so far away when things are tough back home, but God is big and we trust in Him.
-Rachel
 |
| Happy despite booboos. |
 |
| Sad knees. |
After getting us both covered in sunscreen we joined the rest of the group. It was rough, Ali blew in the kids faces and totally dunked them under, one at a time, over and over, until everyone was screaming and crying. Benjamin totally lost it, he kept crying to "get out the water" which was heartbreaking, but I kept him in the whole lesson, maybe 25 minutes. Afterwards we hung out in the kiddie pool for a few minutes. Part of the problem was probably the temperature, it was maybe 70 degrees when we got in and the water was super chilly.
We tried it again Wednesday with warmer weather, and a couple of the moms had some songs ready to make it less of a traumatic event. Benjamin still screamed and fussed, but mostly because Thomas had come down to see the debacle and Benjamin wanted him to take him into the water. Hopefully the next time will be smooth sailing. It definitely made an impression, Benjamin kept talking about going "under" (the water) and swim lessons.
In other news, please pray for Thomas's dad; he was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and will begin chemotherapy soon. It seems to be contained and in early stages, and they'll do surgery after chemo, so it sounds positive but obviously we're praying that God will grant full healing. Please pray for complete eradication of the cancer and hope and strength during treatment, for his dad and mom. It sucks to be so far away when things are tough back home, but God is big and we trust in Him.
-Rachel
No comments:
Post a Comment