Bribing Stephen

Well, we worked with Stephen all this week, in the hopes that he would move up to level 2 this weekend. Tab encouraged him to practice putting his head under water in the tub without holding his nose. I showed him how to bob by crouching down, instead of bending forward.

"Pretend you are sitting down on an invisible chair. Like this," I said, painfully bending my knees and lowering my body. Squatting is not my forte.

When we arrived at the lesson yesterday, I was happy to see Ch'han, our favorite instructor, there. Unfortunately, she is still recovering from her surgery and won't be swimming for another few weeks. I stopped on our way in and told Ch'han what had happened last week.

"Stephen is ready to move up," I told her. "He's not afraid of getting his head wet." There are at least three kids in level 1 who are afraid of putting their heads under water. "Could you, kind of, work with him?"

She assured me she would. Meanwhile, Matthew was doing so well in level 2 that about mid-way through the class he was promoted to level 3. I think Matthew may turn out to be the swimmer in the family. He blew through level 2 in four lessons, whereas it took Daniel ten last year.

Now that Matthew has moved up again, the boys are spread out all over the pool; Tab and I have to move around from one set of bleachers to another to watch each of them. Daniel and the level 5 kids are at the deep end of the long side, Stephen and the level 1s and 2s are at the shallow end of the same long side, and Matthew is with the level 3s in the middle lane of the pool. The level 3 kids spend most of their time practicing their kicking up and down that lane. Matthew looks so tiny in the midst of all that water.

Over at the level 1 area, Ch'han was crouching by the side of the pool, encouraging Stephen. "Great bob, Stephen! Nine more and you'll graduate. Good job! OK, another eight. If you can do your ten bobs, I'll bring you a special treat tomorrow."

Appealing to Stephen's sweet tooth is usually the way to go. He completed his ten bobs and was graduated to level 2 with ten minutes left in the class.

When we showed up for the class today, Ch'han surprised us with a box of a dozen cupcakes she had baked herself. What a sweetheart!

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