A Bridge Finally Crossed

At the rec center where we take swim lessons they have a cool curly water slide. Evelyn has loved going down it since she was a baby, and can go down independently now. Matthew, on the other hand, has had NO desire whatsoever to go down it. He was too scared, he said, but didn't know what he was scared about. All of his teachers have not forced, but strongly encouraged him to go down (the kids go down the slide on the last day of swim lessons) each time he takes lessons to no avail. Now, I know not going down the slide won't land him in therapy someday and I really didn't care if he went down it or not. But I knew he would LOVE it if he would just try.

This last round of lessons we talked about it the week before his last class. He was, as usual, hesitant about it but wasn't adamant about not going down. We talked about it and I told him maybe we would go for ice cream or something to celebrate if he finally did it. That apparently tipped the scale for my sweet boy and he said he would do it! And he DID.. without any hesitation! :)

Waiting in line..

Getting ready

...and down he went! He was ALL smiled and thumbs up (my pictures of that were blurry...boo!) and said it was "amazing"!

This picture was taken too late to capture the high five between Evan and Matthew. Evan is Matthew's FAVORITE swim teacher and has been in his class several times. Evan REALLY wanted Matthew to go down the slide, but also has been so awesome and gentile about it over the years. Evan wasn't on duty when Matthew went down the slide, but knew he was going to go down, so he came to the pool deck just to cheer my boy on. Matthew was probably more excited to do it for Evan than anyone else. Evan was so proud of him.. as was I!

...and yes, we celebrated. Not with ice cream, but with slurpees... Matthew's choice! :)