Last Friday Ethan had his first swimming carnival with his school. Looking at the photo above, you'd think he's a fish. But it wasn't always this way... Ethan's history with swimming has been a rocky road. He has always been petrified of swimming. He was like a leech on our backs, always gripping on, and he's not a short kid, so having a 130cm lanky kid hanging off your back wasn't our idea of swimming! Swimming lessons were always a disaster. He is capable, but just lacked the confidence, regardless of all the encouragement both his teachers and we would give him. He just dissolved into tears every time we tried to get him to swim. This year was crunch time. He was starting Kindergarten and a lot of his friends have pools (we don't), and he needed to learn how to swim once and for all. I enrolled him in lessons, and spoke with the teacher about his, let's say... lack of enthusiasm for the pool. I needed a teacher who was going to be strong, firm, and encouraging. The first couple of lessons were hard. Ethan screamed. I sat there watching feeling incredibly helpless, yet knowing he needed to do this for his own safety.
However, within a few weeks, his teacher had him swimming like a fish. And enjoying it! We've swam on average twice a week all of this year, even through the coldest winter (in heated pools). He has progressed from Level 4 to Level 8, and swims freestyle, backstroke and is now learning breaststroke. He swims 25m up the pool, turns around and swims back. He does this 4 or 5 times in a row. His strength is backstroke.
So last Friday was his swimming carnival. The Kindergarten kids do mainly novelty games in the pool, but there is also an optional 25m race. The Yr 6 kids are in the lanes to help them along if they need it. One of Ethan's goals this year was to go in the race, but a few days before the carnival he told me that he couldn't swim that far. He said he's never swam that far. I reminded him he had in fact swims further than that every week. He stood there for a moment, and then says "If I believe I can do it... then I can'.
And he did. I watched as he walked up to the starting block, waited for the whistle, and dived into the pool along with many of his schoolmates. It was a crazy race, kids all over the place, with all the parents cheering from the sidelines! A total hoot! The race wasn't timed, and it was so close between them all, but Ethan thinks he came 3rd or 4th. I'm just so proud that he had the courage to dive into the pool and give it a go! He's just so proud that he finished!
What a year. What an achievement! So happy :)
Edited to add: The photo above was taken with our point & shoot camera. It's an Olympus u770 SW, 7.1 megapixel, shock and waterproof. We bought it mainly because of the shock and waterproof capabilities. It's a nifty little camera, I've dropped it on the cement and it still works a treat. So the shock proof is correct! And we've obviously gone swimming with it, so it's definitely waterproof! We have a lot of fun with it.
A month or so ago, my inky friend 
