Swimmin’ Like a Barracuna

This is Jonah Bear. He spent a week with us this summer. For those new to the NanaBread Blog, Jonah Bear is my angelic little pirate (grandson). He’s 3 1/2, and he rocks our world. Anyway, while we had him this summer, my friend Kaki taught him to swim. Kaki is a fifth grade teacher who also teaches summer swim lessons to little fish like Jonah Bear. We weren’t sure what to expect, this being his first experience and all, but he took to it like a duck to….well, water! He was a little anxious the first day, especially when he learned Kaki planned to make him put his face under water, but by the end of the second day he proudly proclaimed that he could “swim like a barracuna.” And he was right! We were invited into the pool area at the end of lesson #2 (after a total of one hour of swim instruction), and there he was – swimming under water to Kaki.I had to pick my jaw up off the ground! I couldn’t believe she could take a toddler and turn him into a fish in an hour, but by golly she did it! He was jumping off the side of the pool, going almost to the bottom, then swimming under water to Kaki who was at least 5-6 feet away. As each day progressed, he was swimming farther and farther across the pool. And by Friday, after five half-hour lessons, he was leaping into the deep end, swimming out to Kaki in the middle, catching a breath and then swimming to the other side and getting out of the pool. Then he’d run back around and do it all over again. His “show off” time on Friday lasted 45 minutes because we couldn’t get him out of the pool.
The rate of speed from which he went from scared water weary toddler to mind-blowing aggressive barracuna (his term) was nothing short of remarkable. My baby’s baby is a swimmer! A cutie-patootie holding his breath and crossing the pool underwater swimmer. I’m telling you, either my sweet Jonah Bear is the smartest kid in the world, or Kaki is the best swim teacher in the world, or both. I’m voting for both.

PS – Special thanks to my friend Sheriee and her husband Vern for allowing us to use their pool all week. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. Hope you enjoy the mile-high apple pie! And a warm thanks to my other friend, Pat, who came out for show-off day to watch Jonah swim just because she’s nice like that.