Monday, May 08, 2006

The Magic Word is Ice Cream

The boys had their first swimming lesson on Saturday morning. How did it go, you ask? Well, after much coaxing we got them to sit on the step with their feet in about 1 inch of water. The instructors tried to get them to come to them but NO WAY. D actually emitted this sort of deep, primal scream nearly caused everyone in the vicinity to stop and stare. T took off his shoes and sat on the side of the pool with his feet in the water and managed to get them to the next step. So they were sitting in an inch of water and their feet were submerged up to the knee.
They spent almost the entire lesson that way.
Finally, when the lesson was over and all the other kids got out, the instructors asked if the boys would go in with them. No. But, D did finally sit on Lizzie's lap and then she got him to sit next to her on the lower step so he was submerged up to mid-torso. When J saw that, he agreed to sit next to D.
Then, they got ice cream.
We told them that they'd get ice cream next week if they went into the water with Cory and Lizzie and kicked their feet. Sadly, I won't be there to see it because I'll be at the Mother's Day Brunch but ice cream is a powerful motivator and I'm confident they'll do what is necessary to get it.

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