Swim Lessons

Ayla started swim lessons this week. She's taking them at the Farley's on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays this week and next with Luke and three other kids. Aimee warned me that the first week would be pretty brutal for me especially because Ayla would probably cry the entire time. Monday was day 1, and we started off the lesson slowly by simply counting to three, blowing in their face, and then placing them under water. I was surprised because she actually didn't cry until almost the end of the lesson when Mary (the instructor) took her from me to count and then put her under water to swim to me. Tuesday, with Sarah and Jackson, we went over to my parent's house to practice what we'd learned, but she wasn't in a very good mood. I later learned why when I took her in for her re-check appointment for her ears. She again had two inner ear infections (unrelated to water in the ear). :+( She hasn't been sleeping well lately, and she's had a bad cold, so I suspected that the ear infections were back. Aunt Sarah pushed me to go ahead and take her in, and I'm glad I did.

So, Mondays lesson went well, but Wednesday's was a whole other story. I think her memory was better than I thought it was because she cried as soon as I got in the pool with her. She cried the entire lesson, and she'd clench her fist in anger while Mary held her and counted. It was very hard as her mom to sit there with a smile on my face (trying to look happy and encouraging), and to see the look on her face. I'm the mom that refuses to stay in the room while she gets her shots, and I know the crying for that will just last a moment. SO... having to sit there while she has to do this time and time again was pretty tough. I found myself saying, "You only have 4 more times... now 3 more... now 2 more..." Although quite distraught, each time she would stop crying long enough to take a breath before being placed under water to swim to me, and she even kicked her legs. Not once did she take in water. I was quite surprised that even with her crying so hard she still could hold her breath under water. Once she knew the lesson was over and we were getting out of the pool, she did seem to perk up a bit. I was very proud of her, and Aimee said she thought I did rather well for being a first time mom going through swim lessons. :+] She was sweet to even call me later to tell me again!

Jackson was funny on Tuesday when Sarah and I took the kids to my parent's pool. She tried the "1...2...3...blow... and under water" thing with Jackson, and he did really well and held his breath every time. However, the funny part came when, as we normally do, he'd be sitting or standing on the side of the pool, and we'd count for him to jump to us, and I guess because we'd done the "1...2...3" with the under water part, he didn't want to do anything associated with counting. :+} As soon as we'd start saying "1...2...3" he wave his hands to let us know he didn't want to do whatever it was that came after. :=]

Here she is swimming to me.