Swim Lessons

In April I signed Kylie up for swim lessons with a retired firefighter who has been teaching for 10 years here in Riverside. My good friend Carrie told me about the classes and we were able to get into the same class. The swim lessons started just 3 days after her 1st birthday, they would last for 2 weeks 4 days a week. One interesting thing I learned when we arrived on our first day is that the instructor is allergic to lotion, before we could get in the water we had to rinse ourselves and our little ones off if we had lotion on. He did tell us that we would need to buy wide brimmed hats to give shade to ourselves and our babies.

Only minutes after getting into the water we were told that as first time moms we would cry. I can happily report that no one in my "mommy and me" group cried at any point in the 2 week session. =) Day 1 was hard, I counted 1-2-3 and dunked Kylie into the water, she became much better at doing this as the lessons progressed. I like the fact that we did everything on 3, Kylie became very aware of what we were going to do and would hold her breath or close her mouth as necessary.

Kylie in her car seat after the first day.

Some other things we worked on were leg kicks, arm pulls (teaching them to move their arms while swimming) and holding onto the wall. I would pull Kylie into the pool and teach her to kick to the top and grab the side of the pool, obviously she didn't quite master it but it is something that I know how to work on with her. By the end of the classes she was learning how to kick her legs when I pulled her in the pool. Steven was able to come watch our last lesson. I tried to warn him as best I could so that he wouldn't be too shocked at what we had been doing. =)

Kylie waving to daddy, me in my horrible hat.

When we were told at the beginning at the last lesson that ALL children would be "jumping" off of the wall that was about 3 feet from the pool into the pool, Carrie and I thought all the kids but the under 3 years group. Then we heard the dreaded words "Mommy and Me group you're next". WHAT?!?! This is the first point in the whole time that I was really freaking out. My poor baby was going to be dropped into the pool from 3 feet above, not to mention the part of the pool she was being dropped into was 6-7 feet deep. I was treading water along with a lifeguard waiting for her. She was crying and upset before she went in but not because she was scared about was going to happened, by this point she was scared of the swim instructor. She did great, she doesn't float up as much as the other kids because her head weighs so much compared to the rest of her body. The lifeguard grabbed her and she was not happy, but got over it pretty quickly, she was more upset the first day after being dunked in the water.

Kylie and Carter after swimming, Kylie wanted to be held.

I know that their may be some moms out their that couldn't do that to their baby, but it is important to Steven and I that Kylie learns to swim as early as possibly, especially with both her grandparents having pools. She is no scared of the pool either, I thought for sure she would freak out being near the pool let alone in it after her first day, but that's not the case at all. I just think about what the swim instructor said:

• You don't hear the big slash when kids fall in the pool, many times you don't hear anything
• It can take only 30 seconds for s child to dr
• If they are crying they are breathing
• Never dunk them when they are sneezing or coughing since they can get water in their lungs and drown

Kylie will be our little fish in no time. =)