Friday, June 08, 2007

Swimming lessons

Sarah and Noah are both in level 1; Karen is in Mom & Tot.

Day 1: Sarah did everything the teacher asked and had a blast. Noah stood by the side of the pool and watched, finally consenting to sit on the edge and kick his feet in the water. Karen cried and fussed half the time. When we moved around a lot, she settled down. About the last 5 minutes she'd had it and was starving (I didn't time it well), so she screamed and tried to eat my shoulder. SO I have two nice hickeys now.

Day 2: Sarah took off again and told me she dunked all by herself. Noah sat on the edge the whole time, kicking his feet, and he allowed the teacher to splash water on his swim trunks. It was pretty windy, so Karen was freezing cold, shivering and screaming until she fell asleep for the rest of the lesson.

Day 3: Sarah floated, "flew," and dunked again. Noah did a repeat of Day 2. Karen stopped screaming after warming up a bit and actually did really well. She even dunked under the water at the very end with minimal crying.

Day 4: Sarah and some others in her class made a "train" holding on to the edge of the pool and traveling all along the edge. Noah: repeat. Karen fussed but then had fun 'swimming' after a ball. She also blew bubbles, sorta. Then she fell asleep again. And we accidentally left her binky by the side of the pool. Nuts.

Overall, the kids did pretty well. At least Noah stayed with his class and cooperated with his intructors, even if he didn't want to get in the water. So, we went to Dairy Queen for a treat this afternoon after lunch.

2 comments:

Anne/kq said...

Sounds to me like Noah is not ready to swim.

I remember being the only 4-year-old in my preschool class who was not ready to swim. It was humiliating to be the only one who didn't like it-- not that anyone said anything, but I felt it-- and that made me not want to get in the water even worse.

I was a real stubborn kid. With sensory issues. And did I mention stubborn?

Mean Mommy said...

Yeah, I probably won't put him in the class for next session. I was just happy that he stayed with the class so I could take care of Karen. But I don't need to pay for another baby class either. I already know what to do, so I can just take them on our own.

Sarah, on the other hand, may benefit from the next session.