Swimming

For the last 4 Saturdays, Eva and I have been taking Parent/Child swim lessons. Eva is going on her first cruise in a few weeks, so I wanted her to get used to being in a pool, experiencing the smell of chlorine. And while she loves taking baths, it's very different when you're in water that you can't sit down in and can't touch the bottom. So I found this wonderful place that actually gives lessons as young as 6 months old. The age range of our class is 6 to 18 months old. SIGN ME UP!!

The very 1st class I went in with no expectation. I just wanted Eva to have fun and not cry or have a meltdown in the pool. This little girl never ceases to amaze me. When we first got into the water, she clung to me. That lasted for about a minute and then she immediately wanted to be on her belly in the water. She LOVED being moved around in the water. We did some fun games and some exercises that encouraged her to kick her legs and move her arms (things she was doing before we even started the exercises!) Towards the end of the class, I wrapped a noodle around her so she could float without me. I thought it would freak her out but she loved it. By the end of the class, Eva thought she could swim. She was trying to push my hands away as if she didn't need them to keep her afloat. That girl has no fear 

The 2nd class went just as well. When we first walked into the building we had to pass the olympic pool in order to get to the kid's pool. Eva pulled me to the olympic pool right where the stairs are and thought she was going to climb down into it. When we got to the kid's pool, she was so excited...doing her happy squeal and talking up a storm. She was just as happy to get into the pool as the first time. We played a lot more games that involved dunking her underwater. She loved it...couldn't get enough. She would come up out of the water and start smiling. We did the noodle again and Eva just couldn't wait to start floating by herself. She even tried to let go once but realized that she had to AT LEAST hold on to my finger in order to stay above water. I tried to lay her on her back and move her through the water, but she wasn't having any of that. She is something else 

At our 3rd class, we did more of the same stuff as the first & second classes.  Eva was a little bit clingy this time. She's been teething a lot this week and I think that had something to do with it. We did exercises where we were all in a circle and sang Ring around the Roses and Popcorn (I'm a piece of popcorn in a pot, heat me up and watch me pop!). At the end of the song we would dunk our child underwater. Eva loved getting dunked in the 2nd class and seemed okay with it this class but was not as enthusiastic this time around. Also in each class so far, we did an exercise where Eva stood up on the side of the pool and I encouraged her to jump to me. She really enjoyed that. She got to the point where she was just walking off the edge of the pool into my arms....no hesitation. She is definitely a natural in the water. She even allowed me to lay her on her back this time and move her through the water. It took her a while to relax but once she realized that she was okay, she couldn't get enough. We are so glad that she loves it because John & I are both fish in the water when it comes to the pool or the beach. We could be there ALL DAY! Looks like we got another fish in the family 

The 4th class was our last class, I'm sorry to say. Yup...just 4 weeks! But the good news is that in just a few weeks we are going to put all the we learned to good use...on our cruise, at the pool, at the beach!! This last class was not a lot of instruction. We did all of the exercises as in the previous classes. Eva was all about swimming on her back this week. Throughout the week she had been practicing in the tub! I'm so excited to be going on vacation with my family. John has been at work every Saturday that we've had class, so he hasn't been able to see how well she's done and how much she loves the water. I can't wait for her to WOW him on our trip 