Swimming Lessons

For the past several years we had used a teacher who taught swim lessons at her home. This year for a variety of reasons we decided to do something different and we went with lessons through the city.   They were held at the high school which is like 2 minutes from our house so that was a big plus.

I had originally only signed Katie up because I didn't realize until we got there that there was also a pre-school class being held at the same time, same place.  Fortunately, I was still able to sign Annabelle up and she only missed that first day.

Katie took the Level 1 Red Cross certification class.

She made a lot of progress.  The lessons were M-F , 40 minutes every day for a 2 week session and we did 2 sessions in a row.  By the end she was able to jump in and swim by herself without the floatie.

Annabelle also made a LOT of progress.  Let's just say she was not always this happy in the water.  Basically, the entire first 2 weeks she was clinging to a teacher in the water.  She would say she had to go to the bathroom just to get out of the pool.  There were tears.  And wailing once or twice.  Fortunately, the teachers were awesome and worked with her and she made a complete change.  I was actually really proud of her for coming every day without resistance even though it was so hard for her.

By the end she was so comfortable in the water (with floaties) that she would swim away from her teachers as a joke.  She thought it was hilarious when they would say, "Annabelle, where are you going?!"  I'm so happy that she was able to stick with it long enough to reach a new level of comfort in the water.

Katie jumping off the diving board. 
Natalie LOVED it when kids jumped in.  She got a kick out of the big splash.

This was Natalie's routine during lessons everyday.  I gave her a lollipop but she had to wait until both girls were in the water.  I made her wait,  just as a little gimmick to stretch the time out a little more.  Sometimes the instructors would teach a few things poolside before getting in.  Natalie would watch carefully and as soon as both her sisters were in the water she knew it was time for her lollipop.  I'm usually pretty frugal with the treats but I figured it was only fair since she wanted to get in the water but couldn't.  And it was a great way to keep her still and occupied for quite a while.

Here's Katie with her certificate. 
She was sooo excited to pass to the next level after doing Level 1 for two sessions in a row.  After a month of daily lessons I felt we needed some relaxed summer mornings at home (the girls didn't agree) so we will have to wait until next year for Katie to go on to Level 2.  I hope she'll still be ready after a year break.  If not, she can easily repeat Level 1 as a refresher and then move up.

This was a big part of our summer this year and I am so pleased that both girls made so much progress.