Swimming Lessons

Rachel just finished her last session of swimming lessons for the summer today. There's one more two week session, but I decided we'd opt out this time. The first session of the summer we did a parent/child class where I was in the pool with her. Rachel LOVES the water, and especially the big pool (or the big pond, as she sometimes calls it). But she HATES getting her face wet. If it gets splashed she'll freak out. Or if she jumps in to me and I "accidentally" let her go under a little bit she gets mad. Other than that she does okay, except that she's a 2-year-old, and sometimes won't do what I ask her to just because I asked her. The teacher suggested that she'd be ready for a level 1 preschool class the next session, which I thought were only for kids 3 and up, but I was wrong. So that's what I ended up signing her up for this time (we skipped a session during girls camp and all that excitement).

Rachel was THRILLED with her newfound freedom of not having one-on-one attention from an adult and had a ball. She was the youngest in the class and obviously had the shortest attention span. She would wander off on her own to jump around and play by herself multiple times during the 30 minute lesson. Some days the teacher would have to call out, "Come back, Rachel!" 10 or 15 times. Or "Get back in the pool, Rachel."

At least she was having fun. And she didn't throw fits (as often) when her teacher would ask her to do something she wasn't particularly thrilled about, like she does when it's me in the pool with her. What made me nervous was that Rachel would walk towards the deeper water until she was obviously barely touching, all while the teacher was helping another kid float or something, and wasn't completely aware of where Rachel was. There were several times I was on the edge of my seat ready to rescue my child when her head went under. Luckily that never happened, and I've learned that I can give Rachel a little more freedom and she'll probably not drown herself. :)

Today, being the last day of the session, they got a special treat and got to ride on the water slide.

Rachel loved it and decided to go again. She ended up waiting for quite a while the second time around. It's a good thing she's not afraid of heights because it's way up there.

My fear of heights was kicking in watching her, and I was on the ground. :)

That is a fun slide!

Rachel and her teacher:

Such fun times. I'm glad we have a little fish on our hands who loves the pool. Hopefully by next summer we'll have a fish who will actually put her face in the water. :)