Swimming Lessons

We signed the girls up for swimming lessons at DeWitt High School (Steve's alma mater) this week and next week.  The classes are for half an hour, Monday through Thursday, making a total of 8 sessions.  Sophia was originally signed up for the Blowfish class and Samantha was signed up for the Pike class; both of these were based on their ages.

Outside of the high school on the first day of class:

The girls were SO EXCITED to go swimming.  It was all that they talked about for days.  They had so many questions and couldn't wait to get there.

And even when we walked into the school, they were still anxious with excitement.

And then, it turned into one of the worst days EVER.  Sophia freaked out in the pool and Samantha refused to get in. 

No amount of sweet-talking, coaxing or threatening worked.  Sophia screamed bloody murder for the whole 30 minutes (even when I walked out of sight) and Samantha wouldn't even go so far as to dip her baby toe into the water.  I was humiliated.  My one saving grace was that my sister had met us there and was able to occupy Jack during this humbling experience.

After discussing the horrid situation with one of the leaders there, she encouraged me to consider switching them into the Aqua-tots class, which meets as half-hour earlier.  The thing is: that class is designed for a parent and a child.  Yup, I would need to do the lessons in the water with them.

After much discussion (both with the girls and with Steve), I decided that the Aqua-tots class was definitely what we needed to do.  The girls needed to become accustomed to a "pool" and to the lack of life-jackets.  Up until now, they have only ever really been in our lake and they have used some sort of floatation device for deeper swimming.  They needed to feel comfortable.  And if it meant that I needed to put my post-pregnancy body into a bathing suit to do it, well, I just needed to "take one for the team."

We showed up today for Day 2 with a happier outlook:

Sophia, with me holding her, gained confidence right away.

In fact, within five minutes, she felt comfortable with Miss Emily (the instructor) and let her work with her on swimming. 

That freed me up to try and coax a certain four-year old to join us in the water.

It took awhile.  But, eventually Sam saw how much fun we were having (there were swimming games designed to help the little ones feel more comfortable) and allowed me to work with her.

She is nowhere near comfortable enough with me letting go yet (hopefully we will get there in a few days), but her grip has definitely loosened up a little bit.

Going around in a circle while singing and swimming to "The Wheels On The Bus:"

The girls left their lesson on a definite "happy note" today.  That is exactly what I had hoped would happen.  They are anxious to go back tomorrow (woo-hoo!) and I am so thrilled about that.  After I hung up the phone from talking to Steve and telling him all about it, Samantha asked me if Daddy was proud of her.  Awww ... melt my heart.