Connor Brag

I'm so proud of my oldest son that sometimes I could just burst with want of sharing his awesomeness. This week was a big week!

Earlier this week, I was taking the kids for a normal day at the pool when Jane offered to watch Chase so I could get in the water with the kids. I love when I can go to the pool without Chase...I know that's terrible for a mother to say but when he's with us I have to sit at the wading pool with the girls and Connor can roam around the smaller pools or the slide. But inevitably, the girls start begging to go to the big pool and I have to decline because I have the baby (which has become a very regular phrase around our house).

So when Chase doesn't go with us, I can take the girls to the big pool AND I was able to test Connor in the diving pool which he's been asking to try, but my response has been I have the baby. I hopped into the 7 foot of water and had Connor jump from the side of the pool into the water and then swim to the edge. He did great! So off he went to the diving board. I stood by the lifeguard, not because I was concerned but because her umbrella was shading me from the glaring rays.

As Connor climbed the ladder of the low dive board the lifeguard asked, "Is he going to be OK? Should I be ready to go in?"

I explained that I tested him and thought he'd be OK, but it wouldn't hurt for her to be ready. So she leaned forward and cocked herself for a quick dive, if necessary. Connor walked to the end of the board, well he sort of bounced like an unsure Tigger...testing the spring in the board. He bounced a little at the end of the board unsure when to jump off. Then centered himself and went for it!

In the water......waiting for him to come up......waiting.....there is his head!!! Then he started swimming as perfectly as any mother, who has just spent hundreds of dollars on swim lessons, could possibly ask for. And the lifeguard justified my feelings when she stated, "Oh, he's fine" and relaxed into her chair again.

Then they announced it was adult swim and all kids needed to be out of the pool for 15 minutes. During this time, Connor called Daddy to share the exciting news and to decide to try the high dive next....as in when the 15 minutes is up.

I spent a few minutes discussing some basic physics...if you jump from a greater height then you're going to go deeper into the water which results in swimming further to reach the surface and further to reach the side of the pool with the ladder. So when it was announced that kids could go back into the water he headed off to conquer the high dive!

He climbed all the way up........he walked out on the board........he walked back toward the ladder.....then back to the end of the board......bounced a bit.......walked back a few feet......bounced a bit more.......and then made his final walk to the end of the board.

Bounce, bounce, bounce, center.

Bounce, bounce, bounce, center.

Bounce, bounce, bounce, JUMP!

He did GREAT!!! I was so proud of him....I wanted to tell everyone, "That's my son, he's 6 and he just took his 2nd dive ever and it was off the high dive!"

The week didn't end there. Connor has been taking piano lessons for almost 5 months and this last month or so he has been working on a primary song as well as his regular piano book. Recently our primary presidency announced that kids who wanted to perform appropriate music could do so during the beginning of primary. Connor has been thinking about this for the past month as he's been practicing.

Two weeks ago Connor announced he was ready to perform and asked me to set it up for him. I made the arrangements and today was the big day. We tried not to make a big deal out of it in case Connor got nervous and wanted to back out. I reminded him he was performing today and asked him if he'd like to practice. He said, "No thanks, I want to read my book." He did eventually practice, but I was pretty excited to hear he was choosing to read :^)

At the beginning of church, Connor leaned over his chair to the family behind us and said, "Did you hear about primary today?" Of course they were confused. I explained Connor was playing the piano in primary. He was telling me what a special day it was for him. I agreed but did not want to get too excited and get his nerves worked up because he still had 1.5 hours before performance time.

So sacrament ended, primary started and Connor's name was called to play I Hope They Call Me on a Mission. He proudly marched up to the piano, sat down and my stomach was full of butterflies. I was so nervous for him! He calmly sat down and began to play....perfectly! Well, later he recounted that he had one issue....he played a 4 when he should have played a 2. There's his perfectionist father coming out in him.

He did a really great job and I had so many people come up to me and tell me so....I am such a proud momma!