Adventures at the gym

We took advantage of our new gym membership yesterday. We planned to go swimming, but I was a little concerned about how Michael would do in the big pool. He's not a very daring kid, and when we went to Bear Lake last year, it took some time for him to even wade in up to his ankles. Anyway, we went in, dropped Faith off in the daycare, and headed to the locker rooms. After convincing Michael that he would not be able to swim until he got all wet in the shower, he finally let me hold him while we ducked under the water very briefly. He hated the shower. Then he went and sat down on the top step of the pool, and would not go any further. I let Jeff sit with him while I went and swam for a minute, then I went back and asked Michael if I could hold him and walk around. He surprised me by reaching out and letting me pick him up.

Many of you have heard his insane laughing. Imagine hearing it for the next 20-30 minutes straight. It's cute, but after a while, I'm like, "enough, already." I think he was actually really scared, and the laughing made it better for him. Anyway, once we walked around a little bit, he did awesome. He even put his legs out behind and kicked, and by the time we got out, I could hold him just by his arms instead of having him wrap his arms and legs around me so tightly that I could barely move. He had a really good time, and wants to go swimming again very soon. Unfortunately, though, swimming with Michael is not really working out, so we'll have to convince him to stay in the daycare with Faith sometimes, so that we can actually get some benefit from this membership, other than watching Michael learn to enjoy the water.

Maybe I really will get him into swimming lessons this summer.

Funny note - apparently, I haven't been very good with teaching him modesty, or something. As soon as we got out of the pool and took our very brief shower again, he started to strip down. I didn't realize it until his swim trunks were down around his knees right next to the pool (the showers are located right there, not in the locker rooms). I had to quickly help him pull wet shorts up and over a wet bum. Whatever. We'll work on that.