Overcoming Fears

I have been afraid of the water from birth.  My mom has told me many times how even as a baby, I hated being in the water.  I would fight her just to take a bath.  Like any good mom, she signed me up for swimming lessons, hoping that would help me overcome my fears.  Unfortunately, that's not how it worked out.  I ended up in a class with a swim instructor that didn't work with me on getting my face wet...she just pushed my face in the water.  And she did it on a day my mom was there watching.  Needless to say my mom, a former swim teacher, yanked me out of lessons so fast I probably got whiplash.  I never went back.

My fear of water never receeded and has followed me well into adulthood.  I've always wanted to be able to swim, but have always hated getting my face wet.  In fact, it wasn't until after giving birth that I was even able to get my face wet in the shower.  I guess I figured if I survived labor and delivery, I could handle putting my face in the running water of the shower.  Pools are a totally different story. 

Andrew seems to have inherited my fear of getting his face wet.  I was hoping swimming lessons would help him, but they just let him kick on a kickboard and when he would jump into the pool, catch him before he got his face wet.  So, we went to my mom's today to see if we could work with him a little bit.  I decided that I couldn't expect him to get his face wet if I wasn't willing to get mine wet.  So we would both go underwater.  That's quite an accomplishment for me.  I'm still not up to proper swim breathing, but it's a start.

Feeling rather confident after a couple of hours in the pool, I decided to do something that I never imagined I would ever do.  I jumped into the pool from the side.  Now, keep in mind that when I get nervous, I laugh.  Yes, I was nervous jumping into the pool.  Mid-jump, I started laughing and about drown myself.  But I came up and survived.  I can't even begin to tell you how scared I was standing on the side of the pool.  Clayton was awesome and encouraged me to do it.

So, I did something today that completely terrified me.  And I feel GREAT!!  I may actually be able to swim laps one of these days.  I am capable of swimming...just as long as my face is out of the water and I don't have to swim very far.  My goal is to someday have a pool and get up every morning and swim laps.  Who knows, if I can get my running up to snuff and my biking up to par, I may just try out a triathalon with Heidi!  But probably not for a year or two.  ;o)

Mean Mommy...I mean Toy Fairy

For those who haven't been to our house as of late, we made one of the bedrooms into a play room.  I did this thinking it would keep the toys out of my livingroom and give the kids a room of their own to have fun in.  Andrew is notorious for getting out a million toys and then complaining when he has to put them away. We have tried everything to get him to pick up...up to and including taking away the toys that are still left out. Nothing has worked. So, I decided to try something pretty drastic. It's either going to work or blow up in my face. Let's hope it's the former and not the latter.

After spending over 30 minutes in the play room "picking up", nothing had been done.  In fact, I think it was a bigger mess than when he went to pick it up.  So I sent him to bed and we had a visit from the Toy Fairy.  The Toy Fairy is much like the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.  He, however, is in charge of the welfare of kids' toys.  He watches to make sure they are being properly cared for, played with and put away.  When he sees that these things aren't happening as they should, he comes and takes away the toys to a safe place for proper keeping.  In order for kids to earn back their toys, they must prove they will take care of the toys when asked by their mommies and daddies.  This is done by them proving they can listen and follow directions given by said mommies and daddies.  When this is done, the toys will slowly find their way back into the playrooms and toyboxes around the world.  If this doesn't happen, the toys will find their way to a new, more loving home.  The Toy Fairy left a letter for Andrew explaining where his toys went.  We had already talked about him starting to do chores this next week.  If he does his chores when he's asked, and does the best job he can in doing them, he will get a toy or two back.

I guess I should be thankful this happened during the summer because my back patio is full of black trash bags filled to the brim with toys.  I don't know what I would have done with them if it was cool enough for the kids to play outside. 

I know it sounds a little harsh, but I didn't know what to do.  We'll see if it works.  Like I said, it may blow up in my face and I'll be looking for a new home for hundreds of dollars worth of toys.  But in the long run, if he's not really going to use them or play with them, there is no point in them taking up an entire room of our house.

So, we'll see what kind of hysterics I awaken to in the morning...  But until then, I take some comfort in the fact that the playroom is cleaner than it has been since we moved all the toys in there.  :o)