Frogs and Swordfish

If you go into the history of Shamptons you'll no doubt find some posts about Hannah and Kit's swimming lessons. When I was on maternity leave - I enrolled with Kit in a babyswim class - it was my way of making sure that i spent some time with him just for him (to balance all the theraoy time that Hannah was getting). My MIL did the same class - with hannah.
When I went back to work it had to stop until one afternoon 2 years ago for some reason I got it into my head that they just HAD to do swimming (maybe I'd seen some other child with DS benefit from it - maybe it was about the time that I realised PT for Hannah was pretty much over - and I needed to find alternative ways of helping her develop her physical tone) anyways I enrolled them - after a brief chat with the swim coordinator they were enrolled in the same 'mainstram' class - tadpoles. 2/3 terms later Kit became a Frog. Hannah stayed in tadpoles - she absolutely loved it - but her legs were often akimbo and her arms - she'd smile that big grin and cling to the the instructor's neck - not from fear but because she was having so much fun playing with them!! 2/3 terms later Kit became moved up another grade, Hannah was still in tadpoles.
In her time there she has had some great instructors but in the latter part she tended to think that she could just continue to 'play'. I decided once she started school this year that it was time for me to push for a more appropriate class for her. She would be getting plenty of socialisation at school and at Rainbow CLub (swimming classes for kids with disabbilities). She was there for exercise and her future health - she was there to LEARN!! I discussed her needs with the supervisor - who'd also been her teacher in the past - yes it was worth trying to get her into the 1-1 spec needs program. I spoke to the coord - nope - waiting lists for that are ginormous so our compromise was a capped class and a fantastic instructor. I was more than happy with that arrangement. Unfortunately she has missed a lot of this term due to illness (sigh!). Nevertheless she has been making progress.
In the summer holidays just before term began I was able to get her in for 3 days with the special needs teacher - in just those days she made so much progress - and she absolutely loved it!! The smile of pride on her face when she 'swam' 3-5 metres was glorious to see.
So here we are at the end of Term 1 and she still hasn't quite mastered some of the tadpole stuff although she can do heaps. The supervisor is in fact her very first teacher (who was great!). We discuss what to do with her - he is keen for her to go to go up a grade - he can see that she has progressed - he can also see that she is still doing the same sort of things that she bagan with 2 years ago God Bless Him! So there we have it - Hannah is going up a grade because the supervisor is perceptive enough to know this about her character - she LOVES a challenge. The class will be capped.
Kit is also doing very well. He really enjoys it too - I wouldn't know if he's doing really well or not necessarily - but he too has gone up a grade - he too will enjoy the 'challenge'.
Oh - and i have managed to get Hannah into the special needs holiday class again - she's going to LOVE that.