Salem has been taking swim lessons once a week for 6 months or so now and while it's not uncommon to see little 2 year olds (and younger) swimming around the pool better than most adults, her progress has amazed us.
Her teacher declared that she's ready to graduate, but only after passing the dreaded float test.
The float test consists of throwing the child in the pool with their clothes on and seeing how long a parent can watch their child flail without leaping out of their skin into the pool to "save" them. The child has the easy part and must either 1> float for 5 minutes or 2> float until they reach the side of the pool (they're taught to float on their backs). The child must repeat this parental torture a total of 3 times (once each visit) each time with progressively more/heavier clothing.
Today was her day and I took off the morning just to be there.
The test lasted an excruciating 2 minutes where Salem gazed underwater at her shoes for an uncomfortable amount of time, floated on her back with torrents of water gushing over her face (slight exaggeration perhaps), and crying for Mommy and when that didn't work for Traci (her teacher). There were a couple moments of peace amidst the panic where it appeared she might bring herself into a calm float, but it didn't last long.
In a gut-wrenching test of my faith, Salem performed a back flip. At that, the teacher was already swooping in to snatch Salem up... but she didn't have to... Salem recovered.
The teacher's swooping was a Godsend, however, for in her wake was the momentum needed to pull Salem ever closer to the side where she popped up and gave us a look like "where were you!?!"
Traci held her tight and told her she was proud. She said "a back flip huh? A back flip? That's different. Not recommended." We laughed of relief more than anything.
Traci told us that kids rarely recover from a back flip. In uncontrolled situations it could have been bad, but it shows that she has some good strength. I think she was trying to reassure us.
All's well that ends well though. She passed and it's on to bigger and better things... float test #2 next week.
Afterwards, she was fine and we took her out for breakfast. Salem single-handedly slammed down a half dozen silver dollar pancakes. Obviously, she worked up quite an appetite!
Salem is now quite proud of her swim class video. She wants to watch it over and over. Unfortunately, it was so humid at the pool that the lens kept fogging up and the auto focus was going nuts... hopefully, you still get the gist of the fear and pride we had watching her.
