Water Baby

Every week, Caleb impresses me with his swimming skills and just how confident he is in the water.

Last term, his swimming instructor mentioned that she might move Caleb up to the next level in Term 4 despite him not turning 3 until the end of that term. After that, she never mentioned it again.

Then, a couple weeks ago before Nathan's lesson, I saw Caleb's teacher in the office and she waved me over. Basically, she told me the same thing - she thought Caleb was ready to progress to the next level. She wants swimming to continue to be enjoyable for him but not in a way where he's just playing around in the pool doing his own thing - which is partially what we do right now because he's so confident with the things they're doing as a class, he needs just a little extra something to continue building on his skills.

In the next level, I won't be in the pool with him anymore. Secretly, I was a little sad that this term would be my last one swimming with him. I love our time together in the pool and we have so much fun in our one-on-one time. After this term, I'll just be sitting on the sidelines. As much as it was a hassle to change afterwards, I was getting used to it, it really wasn't that bad.

This week, Caleb got his graduation slips for two levels, so now it's official. Next term, my little water baby will be in a new class with a handful of other kids and an instructor. He'll have to stand in line and wait his turn as the instructor tells them what to do. And I'll be sitting on the side, cheering him on.

I wonder what he'll be like taking instructions from someone else. I think part of the reason he does so well in his class right now is because I know what he understands and I can interpret the teacher's instructions so he can understand what to do. I wonder what it'll be like when he doesn't have that any more.

We had a quick chat while Nathan swam. I asked him what he thought about swimming with other kids without mommy, just like Nathan. He said it was okay. I said I would sit on the side and watch him, just like we were doing.

He said that was okay.

And then, he added that "yee yee 'wim with me".