It all started well. (I know, it's an ominous way to begin the story.)
We arrived early and spent about a 1/2 hour in the kiddie pool waiting for the lesson in the "big pool" to start. Maeve happily splashed around and played with the other little kids. Then it was time to go to the "big pool". As soon as I said, "Let's go over to the big pool", Maeve made a dash for it, completely happy and excited to try out the steps at the big pool.
So far, so good...but then Mandy & Michelle entered the picture. The swimming instructors.
Although they were both perfectly sweet and ever so ready to make a good impression, Maeve wants nothing to do with them. This is a class for 3&4 year olds, nonswimmers only. The other two little girls in the class today could not wait for their turns with Mandy & Michelle. They took them out in the water and practiced kicking, blowing bubbles and all sorts of fun things in the pool. Not Maeve, she eyed them like they were international terrorists, watching closely to ensure they didn't make any sudden movements. Mandy assured me that this was standard behavior and it would pass if I let her take Maeve for a lap or two to practice kicking. So I tried that....Hmmm....Let's just say now everyone in the general vicinity of 2+ miles now knows that Maeve does not like to go swimming without her Mommy. So enduring the slight disdain of two teenage swim instructors and returning a few knowing grins from a couple of other Mommys in the area, I jumped in the pool and appointed myself the third swim instructor, just for Maeve.
Thirty minutes took a looonnng time to go by today. Maeve was happier with me in the pool, but the "Mandy" incident left her wary and she had her guard up the rest of the time. Heaven forbid I get to close to one of the girls or she started to whimper again. I asked her a few times if she like Mandy & Michelle and she nodded her head "Yes", but when I asked if she wanted to go swimming with them, she shook her head "No" so hard I thought she would give herself a concussion. So, that is how swim lessons proceeded, until right before the end of class. The other two girls are begging to stay and Maeve is insisting we leave...NOW! She wanted out of there and quick. So, I thanked the girls and packed Maeve up and off we went.
By the time we hit the parking lot, Maeve was happily babbling to me about the trees and the flowers around us (that wonderful short term memory lapse of hers was kicking in strong.) Five minutes later, driving home, Maeve shouts out to me from the back seat, "Mommy, Go Swim?!?"
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