Little Man's Big Adventures - Swim Lessons

Last year, Little Man really took to the water. He loved his inflatable pools, the local city pool, playing in the lake, splashing in the Chattanooga Aquarium river, and even "boat rides" in Noni and Pop Pop's fish pond. Give him a water hole, and he was one happy boy.

I'm not sure how much swimming we'll be doing this summer since Baby Boy (no, we're no closer to having a name picked out) is due June 11, but I still thought that Alex might enjoy some swim lessons at our local rec center. So I signed him and Jerry up for the Tiny Bubbles/Little Splashes swim class. I figured this would give Alex a new activity to try and some one-on-one time with his Daddy which they both love.

Little Man was all geared up and ready to go until...Daddy took him in the water for the first time. That water was pretty chilly, and he wasn't interested. He cried and cried and cried.

When the class began, the teacher told the parents to ease into the water until it was belly button height for the children. With Alex crying out, "Momma, Momma!", Jerry could see that it might be in their best interest to stay at the back of the class, so he held back and let Alex get used to the water at his own pace.

It was about this time I realized I had probably better make myself disappear because Alex wasn't going to focus on the swim activity if he was constantly looking to me to rescue him. So I went into the lobby of the facility and watched through some windows where he couldn't see me. 

The swim teacher gave everyone pool rings to play with, and Jerry and Alex just sat at the entrance to the pool and played with the rings until Alex stopped crying. It wasn't long before he was laughing and splashing and having a good time (although Jerry said it felt like a long time and that he wondered what all of the other parents there thought of him keeping his crying kid in the pool!). I reassured him that the aquatics director had pulled me aside before I made myself scarce and said he was doing all the right things - distracting Alex while he got used to the water and not giving up. "Keep coming," she said. "Kids who are intimidated begin to have fun once they get used to knowing that everything's going to be ok."

At first, Alex pushed the pool ring away and wanted nothing to do with it.

It took a while to work their way out into the deeper part of the pool, but they eventually made it to where the rest of the class was participating. Alex kept throwing his little pool ring and Daddy would retrieve it. Alex also stood on a small pool platform they had in the water for the toddlers, and he really seemed to enjoy that, too. They made their way around the "lazy river" while Alex practiced a little bit of kicking. And at the end, the teacher and the kids sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" while Alex showed off the hand motions he's been learning at library storytime.

Clinging on for dear life!

By the end of the lesson, Alex had warmed up to things, and I'm hoping that it only gets better from here. He didn't necessarily stay on track with the lesson, but we didn't care. We just wanted him to try some new things and have fun. Here's one last photo after the lesson was finished where Daddy was telling his Little Man how proud he was of him. I was so proud, too. He came a long way in those 30 minutes!

Way to go, Little Man! We're so proud of you!