little swimmer

The US Navy is in dire straights these days, with recruitment down and a war going on, so they've started aiming young. Real young. Consequently, Kenny has begun taking swim lessons every Saturday morning at the park district center pool. Now, while I can tell you a bit about the lessons, I'm unfortunately unable to go into any detail when it comes to Kenny's aggressive SEAL training.

Now, I say "swim lessons," but it's really more about getting him comfortable in the water so when he's really ready to swim he'll do so without hesitation. This involves a great deal of singing while splashing around in the water. Of course, since I'm not the foremost authority on remembering kid's song lyrics, I often have to improvise. For example, my version of "Duke of York" goes something like this:

There was some guy from York
Who had ten thousand grand
He spent it all in Vegas
Now he ain't got a dime in his hand
And when you're up your up
And when you're down your down
And when you're only halfway up
Daddy tosses you all around

The first week, the water was pretty cold, and Mr. K was nonplussed, probably because he was shaking and wondering if this is what hypothermia feels like. He did allow me to dunk him a few times, but he didn't so much want to play with the toys at the end of the session.

This weekend, the water was a bit warmer (and he had taken a nice nap before class), so he was much more full of smiles, and thoroughly enjoyed jumping off of the side of the pool and into Daddy's arms. Lest ye think the boy is jumping anywhere on his own, I was holding onto him the whole time. So please put down the phone and leave the nice child services people alone.

In the meantime, Kenny will continue his rigorous training and if he decides to forgo a life of military service, maybe he can be the next Mark Spitz. We'll start working on that mustache right away.