Splash Splash

We started Baby Z in swim lessons a few weeks ago. It's a Parent and Me class with a maximum of 5-6 kids in a class. We heard great things about the school so we started out with lots of optimism. When we visited there were kids in the class diving for rings at 2 years old.

Although I knew Baby Z was going to be a little nervous and I expected some crying, I didn't expect crying for pretty much the entire lesson for two lessons in a row. I also didn't expect a children's swim instructor to be so visibly disturbed by the crying. Bless her heart, she tried, but she was obviously very uncomfortable which didn't make parent or child any more comfortable. Anyway, as much as I felt uneasy about the whole situation, I was willing to keep at it, thinking that it would get better with time.

By the third lesson, we had changed our strategy. I would no longer attend the lessons and it would be just John and the little dude. (This is after the instructor very politely asked me to leave at the previous lesson because Baby Z kept saying his magic word that usually gets him what he wants: Mama.) By the providence of God, our usual instructor wasn't there and one of the managers was teaching the session. Also providentially, no other kids showed up so it was basically a private lesson!

The new instructor was obviously more experienced (this is all based on reports from John since I wasn't there. Ahem.), and after hearing of the tearful previous lessons he said that they would take it slow and just work on getting Baby Z comfortable. It took some time and effort but slowly Baby Z started to relax and have fun. My husband is exceptional at having fun and he worked really hard to get Baby Z to loosen up. They eventually did all of the same activities for learning, but this time Baby Z was mostly willing to try and was not screaming.

At one point they put the kids on a gigantic whale kick-board kind of thing and have the kids splash and blow bubbles and such. The instructor and my husband were going at it like it was the most fabulous thing on earth to be doing. Then when they asked Baby Z to do it, he politely shook his head, No. Again they tried with all of their persuasive power to show Baby Z how FUN it was. Polite shake of the head, No. The instructor turned to John and said, "Wow." John replied that he didn't think Baby Z was highly susceptible to peer pressure. :)

So we are all excited to practice our swimming this summer; thankfully, my Mom has a pool, so that's helpful and fun. Already I can see how much more comfortable Baby Z is in the water. He's holding his breath pretty well and was willing to step off the ledge of the jacuzzi to come to me yesterday. Yeah! Hurrah for patient daddies and good swim instructors!