Will's swimming lessons

For the past month, Will has taken about 8 swimming lessons from a family friend, Mary Pat Cook. She has taught lots of kids for many years and she doesn't teach on a regular basis anymore, but she made an exception for Will. She is an Early Childhood Educator and has experience with children with special needs, so I thought she'd be a good fit for Will. She also doesn't cut Will any slack when he tries to direct or bargain or stall, so that was a good thing too. He had some good lessons and others where he wasn't as into it, but overall he learned some basics of swimming. He learned to put his face in and to put his hands straight out in front of him and kick. She would make him swim to the bottom of the pool (in the shallow end) and pick up diving sticks. She had him tread water ("ride a bicycle") while holding on to a "noodle". She had him lay on his back to learn to float. He resisted this some, but got the idea of it. They even practiced doing strokes with his arms ("throwing baseballs") while kicking. He didn't quite get the coordination of that but he could swim a few strokes. For his last lesson, the whole family came to watch - G.G, Grammy, Papaw, Ainsley, Mama and Daddy. Overall, he built up his endurance for kicking, learned to put his face in the water (and open his eyes), got a little more comfortable floating on his back, and could swim a few feet by kicking while his arms were straight out or by using strokes. He had a great time! Hopefully a few more summers of lessons will put it all together and he'll be a swimmer! And here are a couple of videos.