It has been almost a full year since we began Swim Lessons, hard to believe how time flies! Within that year we went from Diaper Dolphins to Flippers and now incorporate a little one-on-one swim time with Mommy or another instructor once a week in addition to our Flippers class with Daddy, Ms Donna and all of our swim friends!
What a year it has been! Not only have we hit major milestones in our daily life – we WALK (life as Mommy knew it is now over!), we can finally crawl, and we talk all the time- but we have also hit several milestones in our swim class. Here are a few examples of what we have accomplished this year:
Breath control. We haven’t quite figured out how to blow bubbles on a consistent basis (sometimes we get lucky and see a few!), but we now know to close our mouth each time we go under water or have water poured over our head. Consistently following the count, “One, Two Ready, Go” has played a huge part in this accomplishment.
Floating on Our Back: We still need some assistance with this, but we are SO much more comfortable laying on our back with our ears in the water. This skill did not come immediately, but took a few months of practice in the pool and in GiGi’s bath tub! It also helps that Twinkle Twinkle Little Star happens to be our favorite song.
Rowing and Kicking: We can now “row row row” and “kick kick kick” on command. Sometimes we even row our hands outside of the pool and we ALWAYS row when we hear the “Row Row Row Your Boat” song! This is such great progress. In Diaper Dolphins we were lucky if we didn’t soak the whole class, since all we wanted to do was splash (sorry Mommies!!) But how encouraging that in such a short amount of time we have created a strong foundation for swimming!
Sit Jump and Dive: This is probably our favorite thing ever. We could sit on the side of the pool, sing Humpty Dumpty, clap our hands and dive in the water on repeat for the entire 30 minutes of class! We can even “put our Rockets up” and do a sit dive without any assistance!
Climbing Out of the Pool: Who are we kidding – we totally can NOT do this one yet. But it is our next goal. Actually, just hanging onto the side of the pool will be out next goal, baby steps here! This is such an important skill and would make Mommy and Daddy much more at ease if we knew that if something happened, our little girl was able to hang on to the side of the pool and wait for help. This is a BIG one.
Going Down the Slide: Ok, this one is just for fun – but now that we can sit up on our own, going down the slide is SO much more fun!
We are so proud of our little fish but moreover, we are eternally grateful for the skills she has learned and will continue to build on in swim class. We know that while swimming is fun (and sometimes “just another activity in a busy schedule”) it is one of the only “activities” Wren will do that could SAVE HER LIFE. That fact alone will keep us swimming every single week.
