Swim class

A day or two after we told everyone that we were moving back to Cali my sister Jolene texted me to see if we wanted to go to Mommy and me swim lessons with her and Olivia. I almost said yes but my fear of a bathing suit in public stopped me. After a few days thinking about it I texted her back that we’d love too. I decided it wasn’t fair to deny Lily because of my body issues.

The swim lessons are 30 minutes a day Monday through Friday for two weeks. At first I was kind of ticked that I had to schlep all the way across town, grease Lily and myself up and stuff both of us in swim suits for 30 minutes. After the first day I was so glad it was only for 30 minutes and was happy to schlep, grease and stuff for two weeks.

Our class got pushed back a couple of weeks so by the time swim lessons started I was really looking forward to it. It was a great excuse to spend time with my sister and niece and play in the water a little. There were 5 or 6 kids in Lily’s class. Two of which were tiny 10 month old twin girls with some of the cutest bathing suits I had ever seen.

Day 1: (5 minutes late)
float on belly with Mama’s support – Aces

adding kicks to that – Aces

floating on back with Mama’s support – no go, but I get that, I can’t float on my back either.  None of the kids like it.

Blowing bubbles – Aces.  She didn’t blow any actual bubbles but she tried and I’m pretty sure she’s the only kiddo that even tried.

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"Mom don't let go"

Day 2: stuff from Day 1 – Aces

Then they told us to do this weird pushing the baby under the water and toward the side – the first time, fine.  The second time – no go in a huge way.

The rest of the class time was spend crying and signing to nurse.  We got out of the pool after a few failed attempts to have fun again.

I got home and started thinking about being a swim class drop out. I didn’t go into this class expecting Lily to be a full fledged swimmer when we were done, I just wanted to have fun with my Girl and my Sister and Niece. This was so not fun.

Day 3:

After lots of thought I decided to give it one more try.  Waldo tagged along to see what it was all about.

Not much fun was had this day.  All the babies were crying, Lily just wanted to nurse.  Disaster.

On the drive home Waldo said he had a lot to say about the swim class and none of it was good.  He also said if I wanted to drop out he would totally back me on it because if it was him he would.

Day 4:

We took the day off from swim class and instead went swimming at my aunt’s house.  It was so nice and relaxing.  I did encourage Lily to blow bubbles, float and kick.  I also tried to get her to jump into the pool which I guess we missed on day 2 after we got out of the pool.    We had a great time and YAY! swimming was fun again.

Day 5:

I still really wanted to give up but Jolene texted me that day 4 had been a lot of fun for Olivia and we should keep coming and just do what we are comfortable with.  Which is exactly what we did.  We went back for the next few days and practiced all the fun floating/kicking/ bubble blowing stuff and by the last day Lily didn’t want to leave.

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"Hey look I got it!"

I felt this was a huge success and swim class ended up being exactly what I wanted it to be. I don’t think the instructor liked me much or maybe she was a little intimidated with my Mama Bear impression because of the last day the kids all got certificates except Lily and Olivia.  Jolene asked Monica (instructor) about it and she said she still had to fill them out.  So Jolene went with her and a few minutes later handed me Lily’s.  I read it and laughed.  It said she hadn’t advanced to the next class, Jolene asked Monica why since Olivia did.  Monica said that Lily just wasn’t ready, I totally agree with that, but I think Monica was a little scared to give it to me herself, like I was going to be upset or something.

Starfish to starfish

Starfish to starfish

I’m sure next year’s class will be much more useful, but I’m so glad we did it this year. Lily loves to swim and I feel more comfortable in the water with her.

Mom and Lily

Grandma Gail (my Mom) and Lily

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Kick, kick, kick

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Jolene and Olivia

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More kicking

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One thought on “Swim class

  1. Lily is doing fantastic for her age! My 18mo’s swimming skills are limited to floating around in the water (in my arms), kicking her legs, and giggling like crazy. 🙂

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