That Can't Be My Child!!

My kids tried swim lessons last year. We’d only been to the pool once or twice before that so they didn’t have much experience with the water. Scott started out gung-ho but stopped dead in his tracks when he realized the water was over his head (bad experience getting in over his head at a pool party). Sara didn’t want anything to do with it but she grudgingly submitted, frowning and scowling the entire time. She’s a really strong swimmer but she refused to put her head in the water so they wouldn’t pass her. Of course the very next week, she put her head in!!

Now it’s almost a year later. With hockey all winter, we didn’t have time to get to the pool so we are basically starting all over. I took them to the indoor pool last weekend to try to re-acclimate them. Sara got in but really didn’t want to put her face in the water. Scott wouldn’t get off of the steps. Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us again this year.

This holiday weekend, of course the pools all opened so we braved the crowds and went to the outdoor pool on Sunday. It turned out to be not so crowded but the daytime temps haven’t been that high so the pool was very…….VERY COLD!!! Scott again would get off the steps but Sara was amazing!!

We had gotten some diving sticks to help them get their heads in the water. Sara brought them all into the pool and Hubby worked with her. At first she just kept saying she couldn’t do it, but a friend from school came over who could swim and that seemed to help. She started putting her face in and coming right back up. Then she worked up to really going under and trying to reach the sticks. She just couldn’t seem to get to the bottom of the pool. She really wanted to do this and was frustrated that she couldn’t, so Hubby held her hand and pulled her down low enough to reach and she got one!!!!!! She was so proud of herself!!! She kept working on it and soon she was just holding onto him so she could pull herself down and she was picking up 2 or 3 sticks. By the time we left (and we were only there 2 hrs), she was going under and STAYING under long enough to pick up all EIGHT diving sticks!!!!!!

We were so amazed!! Hubby said when she started staying under for so long, he wasn’t even sure it was her!! She’s come soooo far from last year! We may be looking at the swim team soon!