Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Swimming Lessons

We had our first swimming lesson today. The girls have been super excited and were very cooperative getting there. We were ready about 10 minutes early and sat by the side of the pool to watch others finish up.

About 4:30 a bunch of teenage instructors came out of the office, got in the water and started teaching. I had no idea where to go or who to talk to. Another mom and I were in the same boat, so we finally flagged somebody down, and she directed us to our instructor who was already working with another kid. When we walked up to the instructor with three more kids, she looked like she was going to lose it. But she asked their names, and they got in with her. The other mom and I sat down nearby.

The little boy in their class was a MUCH better swimmer, so we were wondering if we'd signed up for the wrong level It's 201 - right above infant swimming, so I didn't expect much. The other girl in the class was 5, but she wasn't that comfortable in the water.

They did a bunch of trials on different floats while the instructor held them. They blew bubbles. They went down to the end an jumped to her a bunch (with the boy doing cannonballs). Then they went to the shallow end to dive for rings.

Madeleine got in over her head once. She was on her tiptoes, lost her balance, and kept getting deeper. But she recovered okay.

They didn't go underwater to get any rings, but did good anyway. When the lesson was over, they came to the edge to hop out. Lily lost her balance and went under. The mom in me freaked out, but she recovered on her own and got out, very proud of herself. She told everyone she went under the water.

The instructor told the mom of the boy that he was too advanced for that level and should probably be in another class. She seemed pretty annoyed, but I hope she follows through and gets him in the right level.

The girls are excited to go back on Thursday.

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