swim lessons

after taking a long break from swim lessons over the fall and winter, we started up again this spring. the sessions last 10 weeks and this week was our last session. it wasn't quite as easy as when he was a four months and had no fear! the first several lessons he literally clung to us and would cry every time he went for an underwater swim. the only thing that kept him going was the fact that there were toys to play with, so he would gather up as many toys as he could hold in his little arms and that made him a little happy! slowly he started to get a little more confident, but it was still a struggle to pry the toys out of his hands and his body off of mine every time we'd want to do a swim to the instructor.

a few weeks ago we had a turning point! it actually was lucky on my part in that i had gotten off work a little early, so we had some extra time (instead of racing in from work at the last minute like we usually do!). we sat and watched several of the older kids having a great time in the pool, splashing, playing, swimming and laughing. as we sat there and watched, he decided that he wanted to join in the fun and asked to get in the pool. we went over and sat on the stairs and he just took off and walked into the water (the pool ranges from 1.5-2 ft deep!). now, we had tried walking in the pool several other times, but he was too fearful to really allow himself to do it. once he realized that he had full control of his body and could walk the whole length of the pool, he thought swimming was the greatest thing ever! the next several lessons we had no tears and instead of working to get him to let go of me, i was working to chase him all over the pool!

it was so great to watch his fear of the water and his confidence in the pool literally change overnight. he now enjoys kick, kick, kicking on his tummy and his back, jumping into the water from the side of the pool (assisted, of course) and even going underwater for a short "swim". in our last class this week, one of the parents brought an underwater camera and took a couple shots of each of the kids. i'm happy to have these pictures, since aaron wasn't able to attend many of the classes and these are our only shots of us swimming this time around! you can be sure that we will be keeping up our lessons to make sure his confidence stays up and his skills continue to develop!

i think he might even be smiling a bit in that underwater shot!