Success

I realize I have used the word "success" often lately to describe little Cooper, but he is finding it around every turn. We decided to put him in an end-of-summer swimming lesson session seeing as I finally have the time and he's come so far in the pool this summer. D liked the idea, assuming it would be a positive experience for Coop and that he wasn't made to feel he had to. I approached the first day as a "trial run," yet inside knew that I'd stick out the session, although I was questioning my committment after the first ten minutes of trauma.

The screams of death stemmed from the back float. I learned this week that putting your head backwards in the water and having your ears under can disrupt one's equilibrium different from simply putting your head in the water facing forward. There was twisting and turning, grabbing of the teacher, incredibly impressive kicking and lots of sad, sad sounds. I felt bad for the two other children, who were fine, but were not getting any attention as the teacher was very, very persistent and just kept pushing Cooper. It got quite uncomfortable for me and I was ready to walk out or intervene when all of a sudden he shut his mouth and held his legs still and somewhat succomed to the torture he believed he was going through.

The next few minutes were teary, but the rest of the lesson was great- they moved onto things he was more familiar and comfortable with and he finished the day with a smile and wanting to come back again, whew! The rest of this week has been terrific. We have practiced the back float as well as his "reach and pull" arms at home and he is anxious and ready each day to go to Miss Erin's for swimming. He has mastered the back float and with the addition of goggles is retrieving things off the bottom of the pool for the first time. We swam together yesterday and I was so amazed at the confidence and strength he has acquired in the last while.

Again, I realize that many will find my content a little much, but I have learned that watching your children struggle and then succeed is one of the greatest joys of parenting. Cooper has grown and developed leaps and bounds recently with the beginning of pre-school, mastering new letters, ways of thinking and social skills. Potty-training has been extremely positive for both of us, giving him new independence and identity as a "big boy" and giving me the opportuinty to refocus on my son, to notice the successes and praise when appropriate. Add swimming to the accomplishments and it's been a fabulous week for mom and Coop. I think Heavenly Father is sending extra angels our way, helping us get along, giving me extra patience, as D is gone for another week and a while ago, that thought would have been too much for me to handle. I was so tired and very short-tempered, but a refocus has occurred and we have had a wonderful week together- here's to one more!

Oh, and good luck to Denten this week as he combs the hills for RePete (he shot Pete last year). He's sighted in his bow and is dead on in target practice, so look out animals, he's so ready for you! As much as I don't want to deal with the product of a successful hunt, I see the passion he has for this and can only hope he finds just what he's looking for and that he comes home satisfied and exhausted- and if it happened before next weekend, that would be ok too!