Piper's First Swimming Lessons

The Beginning

We started swim lessons for Piper the day after Memorial Day. It was at our old pool where we used to live. We had a bunch of our friends' kids being taught, so it made it fun to see everyone everyday for a few hours. The weather was nice all week (70's), but the pool was pretty cold. Once you got used to it (and possibly numb) it felt fine. These were Piper's first lessons and I didn't have high hopes for her liking it all that much. With Brody's first week, he cried the entire time, so I expected much of the same. And yep, she cried most of the time, as did most of the kids. She seemed to refuse to do what she was asked to do by Bethany, except when she had the pink noodle, she was a little bit more willing.

Piper loved picking rings, though, but probably only because, once at the edge, she tried to escape by climbing out of the water. She was great at that. As the week went on, she was also great at talking. Eventually, she just stopped crying, probably because she felt that wasn't getting a response, and tried to talk her way out of it. Saying things like, "I'm cold", "I'm freezing!", "I want to go in the hot pool", or "I want to pick a ring". Trying to get the sympathy vote I guess. That didn't work so much either.

Here we are after her first lesson was over. She was finally happy then.

The Middle
The boys (Brody, Jack, and Drew) were funny. These are the three that are in preschool together. They all had a great time too. None of them were really taking formal lesson, so they played, played, and played. Here they are eating and lounging and taking a break.

When Bethany had some extra time, she taught them all a mini-lesson on strokes and side breathing. It was a great refresher for Brody as those are the areas he needs to work on. I am always telling him, "head under and stretch those arms out!"

He has always had great kicks though.His turn to practice his side breathing. He did pretty good, but we still need to work on it.

The End
We ended our last lesson on that next Saturday. A lot of the dads came to watch their kids' progress. I took Brody and Piper earlier to have more time to swim and practice. John came later to just see Piper, as he was still finishing up the yard work. Here I am trying to get Piper to get used to the water before it was time for her lesson. Everyday she would cling to me for dear life, like she was knowing what was coming. This day was just the same, except she was very excited to see Daddy when he the got there.

Brody having too much fun.

Then it was Piper's turn.Piper was actually worse on this lesson then even the first one. She cried harder and longer than ever before, calling out "Daddy!" like he was going to save her. She still really wouldn't kick on her own. She did once during the week, but we all think it was a fluke.She wouldn't do much with her arms either without help.

"Daddy!"Yeah, rings! Nope, still didn't make her happy.Here's some videos for all the Grandparents. Enjoy!






All done Piper! Hot pool time!After her lesson and dip in the hot pool, John took the kids over to 7-11 for slurpees to celebrate Piper's last lesson. I stayed at the pool visiting, laying out, and enjoying some time without children. Later, once everyone was cleaned up, we went to our favorite pizza place, Oggi's, for dinner and then afterwards the grocery store. The kids fell asleep on our way home, so we got to enjoy a great night together watching the movie A-Team. It was a great day!

A huge thank you to my friend, Bethany, for having to put up with this crying child all week. Piper did make some progress, though. She was great at holding her breath underwater, floating to and grabbing on the edge, and climbing out of the pool on her own. I think, for her first time, she did ok. We still have a lot to work on, though. Last week, we did practice a bit in a much warmer pool, but went two steps forward and one step back. She did well kicking and moving her arms on her own. When I tired to get her to swim to the edge, she floated like a dead fish face down. She didn't even try to grab on to the edge. She'll get it though, I mean, she is only 2! Between swimming lessons and potty training, we have a lot to work on this summer. Good luck to me! :)