a whole new world

Stuart has been in semi-private swim lessons the past couple of weeks and today the swim teacher (my good friend Jeni—who is adorably pregnant in her maternity swim suit) asked if we had any goggles he could wear.  We rounded some up from the lost and found (should I be grossed out by that?) and he put them on.  For the first time.  Ever.  For the rest of the 25 minutes of his lesson, his entire body was wild with excitement as he was able to see underwater for the first time.  I have been anti-goggles for the past couple of years because they are such a hassle—always filling with water or getting lost, or too tight, or too loose.  Who’s got time for that?  Plus, I wanted him to learn to swim without depending on his eyes being open.  Anyway, now that he has seen the bottom of the pool, I don’t think he’ll ever want to swim without them again!  Which is fine.  As long as he can “fix” his goggles by himself from here on out.
Before the goggles:


See the squinting?
Once he put the goggles on, he was SO DISTRACTED, I don’t think he heard anything Jeni was saying.  Good thing she has a lot of patience.
The first pair were too big.



The second pair were too tight.  See the adjusting?  And the grimace.


I love this picture of Ethan (above).  The goggles he was wearing had two straps and when he put them on, one of them stayed in front making a nice little Michael Flatley headband for him.

(By the way, searching for images of Michael Flatley online was definitely disturbing).

The last pair he tried had yellow/orange lenses which definitely altered his state of mind.

So the lost and found goggles went back to the lost and found.  And now begins my quest to find the perfect pair (make that pairs) of goggles before our next lesson.  Good thing the stores are already stocking items for the summer season.

And I have to mention that I am very much an amateur photographer wielding a nice camera and lens and until this very day had never adjusted the ISO settings on my camera (Canon 20D) because I was too lazy and always felt pressure/rushed to take a picture before whoever was underfoot ran away or into oncoming traffic.  Anyway, I was talking with my good friend Amber (hi Amber!), who is much much more than an amateur photographer wielding the same nice camera and an even nicer collection of lenses, and I complained that I never get good indoor pictures—blaming it on my flash.  Adjust your ISO she says.  When I started shooting today at the indoor pool (with no children underfoot I might add), I checked my pictures and they were very dark, so I did as she said and adjusted my ISO to 800, and then switched to manual aperture and shutter speed (another thing I never do when I have to worry about who’s running away).  I was so happy with the way they turned out!  They are still not the greatest, but considering what they were before I changed the ISO:

to after:

See the difference?  I feel so enabled.  Thank you Amber!