Ellis' First Time Swimming

Yesterday was Ellis' first time in the pool. Zoe and I took him yesterday afternoon. I could tell from the way he answered my questions about swimming that he had never been in a real pool before. He was eyeing the pool suspiciously when we walked in and he saw people  in it. I could tell by the look on his face that he was pretty sure he was not going to be getting into that. Zoe did a cannonball immediately into the deep end as soon as she got her goggles on. Seeing her in the pool didn't help. So we walked over to the shallow end and we got in together. Ever notice how baby gorillas can hold on to their parents without falling off even when the parent is climbing a tree? Well he had quite a grip on me. But seemed ok. We walked to the deep end (all 4ft 5inches of it) and i put him on the wall to see if he could climb out. With a little help he made it out. I'll have to put a chin-up bar on the door in his room so he can work on his upper body strength. He's gotta be able to keep up with his sister! Coaxing him back into the water was not easy but he got back in. We walked back to the shallow end and i had him let go of me. It was only to his chest. he was not pleased. But he stood there. I kept holding him at bay as he tried to clamber back onto me. But i reassured him that it was ok. He struggled through it but got a little comfortable. As he kept inching towards me i would back away and then had him walking up and down the shallow end. He was ok until he got a little to excited and went under. he didn't know what to do. He just kinda hung in the water. I gave him a sec to see if he knew what to do. Not a clue. So i scooped him up and got him up. He was freakin! But i wouldn't let him get out of the water. Zoe and I talked him through it. All the other kids in the pool were staring. jeez. Like none of them were ever in the pool freakin out before. But it took a while but he eventually calmed down. Through many tears and pleas to go home. but then he was alright. We continued to walk around in the shallow end. he would watch me pick up Zoe and throw her. He firmly told me that he did not want me to do that to him. Funny. Once while i was throwing Zoe he climbed out the shallow end on his own. This is pretty significant. From one of Zoe's swim classes the instructor said their ability to climb out was more important than swimming for young ones. "New rule", i said, "if you can climb out on your own you must climb in on your own."  he did not like this. After about 10 minutes of crying, coaxing and staring (by other kids) he climbed into the pool on his own. This was huge! After that he was totally past it. He spent the next hour climbing into the shallow end on one side and walking all the way over to the ladder and climbing out and then walking along the edge to climb back in. When he got into the pool it then became a game of racing to the ladder with him, Zoe and myself. Usually it was zoe jumping on my back to sink me to make sure her little brother would win. Already ganging up on me! I guess that's to be expected. Despite their obvious cheating it was a good day in the pool. Today we walked passed the pool and he asked to go swimming! So it will be swim lessons for him soon!