Swim Lessons for Jude Bug

Jude does great putting his head under water at home in the backyard (blow up) pool and while playing in the bath tub. He's also been to the public and neighborhood pools/splash park with no problems, ofcourse keeping in the shallow end. I wasn't nervous that he would be scared to start swim lessons. Especially with his good buddy & neighbor, Ryder, there!
We hired Cathy, a swim coach with 15 years under her belt in private lessons, to teach Jude, Ryder and 2 other twin boys that the Dilley's know 3 times a week. They had their first swim lesson last night. To say it went well for Jude would be stretching the truth, haha. We showed up at Tricia's house (Dilley's friend) and met her two twin sons, Reed and Brady, and then all 4 boys played a little in the pool until Mrs. Cathy arrived! Jude was excited to get in the pool! The lesson began...
The twins went first and were SO good! They live with a pool so I suppose they have that advantage but really, they were swimming! Next Ryder was up...another great swimmer! I had to remind myself they are all 2 years older than Jude in that moment. When Cathy called Jude out to the deeper water, It was immediately evident he was scared. She started with a game and he started smiling again but it quickly faded when the lessons started. Cathy was great! She was patient and pressed on! I tried staying out of view for some of the lesson but not sure if it helped or not?? He did go under water several times but the nerves took over and he stayed tensed leaving it far from a "swim" lesson and left it more of a "let's calm down in deep waters" lesson.
I talked to Cathy once things wrapped and she assured me it's totally normal for his age. I hope so! The next lesson is Saturday at 11:30. Praying it's a better time for sweet Jude bug!

Mrs Cathy helping Jude with his goggles and calming him down

Learning how to "look at the bottom of the pool" and kick