Colter's class went on a field trip to the farm today. I chaperoned, two of the boys in our group were named Abram and Isaac. I felt like I was transported back to biblical times calling out for the boys all afternoon.
Colter is pretty timid when it comes to animals. He had a dog jump him (in joy) when he was about three years old and he has been so afraid of animals (dogs in particular) ever since. So being at the farm with really large animals all around was kind of unnerving for Colter. He kept a safe distance and declined offers to feed the animals celery or lettuce but he observed closely.
Colter's biggest act of bravery was to read this book about spiders and insects. He wouldn't even go near the book at first. I had to take some of the kids in our group to the bathroom and left Colter with another group. When I came back, Colter was pouring over the book. He looked up at me and said: "this is actually really interesting." I need to find the book at the library so he can finish reading it.
Back in February, we signed Adell up for swim team. We also decided to sign Colter up too. He has been taking swim lessons at Splash for over a year and really doing great. He loves swim lessons, they are his favorite time of the week. He has made great progress and can swim the length of the pool without help easily. We figured he would be ready for team. As soon as we told Colter he was going to do swim team in the summer, he told us "no way". It wasn't going to be easy.
He had his last swim lessons this week and ended up earning his purple ribbon, which was the level Adell reached before she stopped taking lessons and switched to team last year! We were all so happy and proud of Colter.
So swim team started last week and Colter promptly started losing his mind. He would get weepy and worried as swim team practice time approached. He watched the clock, changed into his swim jammers on time and started getting a tummy ache. We talked about it a lot. He insisted he was sick...I insisted he was nervous. Finally, we figured it out. He was afraid of swimming the length of the pool without having the ground to touch in case of an emergency. I told him to swim however he was comfortable and to grab the lane lines whenever he needed. That was all it took...and knowing he would only be racing against himself in the meets. He has avoided tummy aches at practice ever since. He still has to be pretty brave. There are a lot of kids in the pool, he is little and can be overlooked sometimes. We are proud of this brave guy.
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