swim scare

At swim class this morning I decided to stay and watch the children so that I could encourage mine to follow what the teacher said instead of insisting "I can't!". After 10 minutes of watching Dennis splashing the other kids and disobeying, I put my head in my hands and considered the big waste of money this class is turning out to be. He wouldn't move his arms on his first turn with the teacher. But then, they decided to show the kids how to tread water, and Dennis did GREAT, and this was fortuitous because immediately after he did this, he was disobeying the 'stay on the steps' rule and slipped off and went completely underwater. As the teacher and I were racing to get to him, he kicked hard and popped up above the surface of the water and treaded water until he could grab the pool edge (at which point the instructor grabbed him as well). After that, he did everything he was told and did great with all of it, and the teacher told me at the end that he was so much better this week.

We spent the rest of the day at the lake with Ju-Ju and Steve and Dennis' grandparents and Allison, and we enjoyed the most delicious fish fry and another campfire on the dock with marshmallow toasting. He practiced casting with Laine's fishing rod for a nice long time. Late last night as we drove back home, Dennis began negotiating reasons to stay out of bed. "I don't want to go home now, Mommy and Daddy, I'm not tired" and "I want to go to Wal-Mart and buy a new fire station" and "no, don't turn left, TURN RIGHT so we can go to Gran's house--I DON'T WANT TO GO HOME!". Once we got home, he tried to convince me to sleep in his bed. He said "you are so little Mommy that you can sleep in my bed with me!". While I was extremely flattered, I told him that I wanted to sleep in my own bed. He said in that sweet little Eeyore voice "Okay, Mommy, good night."