The Pool Guy

Getting Lucas to swim with us has been a struggle. The first day we bought some floaties that were apparently too small for him. He was very excited to jump in the pool and swim, but when I let him go to test the floaties he just sank. After that we bought a vest, but while my mom was putting it on him he slipped and fell face first into the water. From that point on he has refused going back into the pool or the beach. I have forced him a couple of times by holding him and promising that I will not let go of him, but he starts shaking in fear and then I just feel terrible. Today was Alegna's last day before returning home and leaving us in Florida for an extra week, so we tried to use this to convince him to go swim with us.

We took him to the beach and tried but he was still too scared. He stayed by the shore playing with sand with my mom while we swam and exaggerated how much fun we were having. We even bought him a spider man floating device and convinced him that he would be able to throw spiderwebs from it if he swam, but it did not work. My mom used a different technique and gradually approached him to the water. First it was by throwing rocks and sand into the water. Then she made him walk a little closer to see the fish swimming. Finally he reached Alegna's arms and we were able to convince him to splash with his feet and make some swimming movements. It didn't last long, soon he wanted to get back to the shore, but we were happy that the fear wasn't as bad this time. I hope that by the end of the week he will have lost it completely.

As I said previously Alegna will be returning home tomorrow. She is a bit sentimental and I can understand why. My recommendation is to use this week to do everything that she hasn't been able to do in the past 3 years. Use it as a vacation from us. She will be writing this weekend as a guest again to describe her feelings and her experiences in being left alone to do as she pleases. I will still be here in Florida for another week. The only worry I have is handling the two at the same time at the airport on the trip back.