My son, the swimmer

Julian has just completed his first week of swimming lessons and I couldn't be more proud.  He looks forward to it every night and has shown how brave he can be to face his fears.  Why make a big deal of it? Doesn't every average eight year old know how to swim?  Well, as I've mentioned before Julian's on the mild side of the autistic spectrum catagorized as Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified(PDD-NOS).  This is as mild as you can get when it comes to autism.  He always has a fear of new experiences especially when it comes to water.  He suprised me by how he continued swimming even though he had water in his eyes--I have to wipe each drop away quickly when he's in the bath.  Last night he even laid on his back while the instructor held his neck and he kicked.  I could see how proud he was of himself.  There was a neighbor a year older than him a few months ago that doubted Julian's ability to kick a ball very high.  This child is in a soccor program and seems quite competitive.  I couldn't tell him about Julian's low muscle tone-which seems to be improving at a slow pace.  Why does there have to be such a fixation on competition?  Why can't kids just have a good time together without proving who is the best?  Thank goodness his lessons have not been at all competitive.  It is been great for him to experience in so many ways.  If we as a society have such fierce competition between ourselves, where does that leave the people who will never measure up?  That can be addressed on so many levels, but for now I am a proud mom.  He is doing his best and that's all I'll ever ask of him.