I'm not bragging, babe, so don't put me down...

Really, I don't mean the following to come across as bragging about Jamie--though we are really very proud of him--more as reflections on how he has developed over the last couple of years.

Some of you have seen bits of this, but Jamie has really become a swimming star and we're not sure whether it's the cause or the effect, but it has coincided with a real period of opening up in terms of Jamie's personality. When we started him on lessons last year, he reacted at first with the sense of caution and reticence which we had come to expect from him. I don't think we worried about this, as such, but were sometimes concerned that it might inhibit his social growth in some ways, make certain things challenging for him. The breakthrough seemed to be when he managed to put his face under water. He was really proud of it, and it seemed to give him a real sense of confidence. Those of you who have been in a pool with Jamie since have seen demonstrations of this, especially the Bradys, whose pool is so often the site of them. And really, in the past year Jamie has become so much more outgoing and so fearless in a lot of ways that really impresses us. I think his lack of concern at being made fun of a little about his tricycle is one sign of this sense of self-control and confidence. We have always known that Jamie is a very sweet, sensitive little boy but this self-assuredness is really wonderful to see.

These reflections are prompted, in part, by his recent performance in an intensive two-week swimming class. The other kids in his class are 5 1/2, 7, 8 and 9 but Jamie is regularly among the most successful. One thing that was great was to see him scared to do new things the first day, but really soldier on and keep trying. He cried a bit the first day, but then the very next lesson suddenly he started to do the forward crawl entirely by himself in water is over his head. His teacher gives him a boost about 10 feet from the edge of the pool and then little Jamie just motors himself right over. It's quite a flurry of skinny arms and legs, but he gets there. He has some trouble with the coordination required for the backstroke and the breaststroke, but is completely game about trying it.

What's impressive is that he is so self-controlled. He swims with his head in the water, picks it up, breathes, looks for the edge, and when he's not there yet, he just puts his head back down and keeps going. The sight of his little face, beaming at us with pride as he picks his head up at the edge of the pool, is literally priceless. Nothing could match it. Nothing.