When his teacher Danielle came into the water, there was more screaming. She tried a lot of different things, and then finally twisted him in her arms so his back was to her chest, and she let his legs float there. He was still freaking out for a while, but she gradually brought him over to where the water was more shallow, and before we knew it, Alex was walking around in the pool all by himself!
He started to get more confident and went over to the 3 1/2 feet deep area, and was holding on to the side. He did really well, considering at the start of the session he did not want to let go of Danielle or I. He was splashing by the end, and his normal 45 minute session turned into an hour and a half in the pool! So now that he is calm in the water, and realizes that his teacher nor I will let him drown, we can now start teaching him how to float on his back and eventually swim. Since he is ok with his teacher, I don't necessarily have to be in the water with him anymore, so I hope to take some pictures of my little fish next week at his next lesson.
However, tomorrow he has baseball practice, and I worry that with his new love of the pool that he will not be so excited about baseball. I am going to try to tell him that if he does well at baseball then we might take some time out and go to the pool. He ate twice the amount of food he normally does for supper (which isn't very much anyway), so I am happy that he has found something that he enjoys, even if it is going to make baseball a little more difficult.
As I was watching him in the pool, I felt sad because I realized that (other than Erik), I was the only one there as a parent figure that was overwhelmingly proud of him. Considering how much his grandmother dislikes water, and the screaming that he did before he got used to it, my heart was bursting with pride watching him smile and play. Only the promise of chicken nuggets and chocolate milk got him out of the pool. I realized that I would never let anything come between me and seeing him do things like he did today. I could never let anything come in the way of watching him interact with his peers and grow in his own way.
For a child that has sensory issues, getting used to a new feeling like floating in water is very tough. He has to learn how to stay calm even though he is not used to the feeling, he has to get used to the fact that he needs to let go of things that are "safe" like mom, Danielle, or the side of the pool if he wants to learn how to swim. He had to learn how to trust us, even in the most uncomfortable situation. And he did an amazing job overcoming all of that. Alex is indeed, a very brave boy.
I would like to just say that the YMCA in Onalaska has a priceless person in Danielle. She has just as many bruises from him as I do, was bit, and scratched, these last two lessons. And she stuck with Alex, and was amazing in every way. She knew how to handle him, and I could not have asked for a better buddy helping Alex through this very tough obstacle. Hopefully, Alex gets to have Danielle in the fall, because I am totally going to continue his lessons year around.
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