Swim Lessons

This year I decided to put all four girls into swim lessons. It's a life skill I want them to all have! Last year I felt Alaina was still not quite ready, being she was not yet 4 years old. She wanted to go in the "big pool" so bad! I assured her, that next year, when she's 4 she can!         

Alaina 4 1/2 Johanna 6 3/4 Danielle 9 1/2 Katie 12



Here's Danielle and Alaina excitedly talking about getting in the pool! Alaina can't wait! She's a big four (almost five) year old! The time has finally come for swimming lessons!

Danielle and Alaina, excited

The big moment is finally here!! Time to get in the pool!!!
Uh-oh.. what's wrong? Alaina suddenly doesn't want to get in the pool.  Although the water is shallow enough for her to stand in she's afraid.  When she starts trying to get in she plugs her nose although her swim teacher tells her he won't let her face go under water. She doesn't believe him.

Alaina getting ready to get in

They finally get Alaina in the pool and she clings to the swim teacher's neck.  He can't even pry her off of him and all she wants to do is get out of the pool.  We gave it our best shot that day and the next, but she didn't show much improvement on day 2 so we decided to take her out of swim lessons.  I guess she's still not quite ready.  Now she says, "when I am 5 I will go in the big water." Haha!!

Alaina and swim teacher with Johanna looking on

 Johanna was very brave this year! Not only did she jump off the diving board but she jumped on to the lifeguards floatie with out being caught!  Last year she stood on the end of the diving board for about 45 mins refusing to jump and refusing to get off... why they didn't just drop her in is beyond me.  That was a long wait, so I was relieved when that didn't happen this year.

Go Johanna!!

Johanna in mid air, about to land on the floatie!

Splash!

Katie is a good swimmer, this year she passed level 4.  She can jump in with out help.  This year she learned to jump in while holding her breath instead of plugging her nose.  She's also working on learning to dive.

Go Katie!!!

Splash!!

swimming back.. look at that smile on her face

Danielle's turn! She's not scared! Danielle was in level 2 this year and almost passed.  She had one thing to do in order to pass and that was the back float. She actually can do it, but I think they want her to be able to do it for 10 seconds.  I am sure she'll pass with no problems next session.

Go Danielle!!

safe in the lifeguards arms

Elise got to go swimming for the first time in the baby pool while the big girls had lessons.  I love this little swimsuit, look at the ruffles!! haha!

Lisey Loo

She LOVES Dora, so we got her a Dora floatie.  Here she is, pointing at Dora and saying, "Dah dah" Silly girl.

Elise and Dora

Alaina had a great time pushing Elise around the pool

This was so cute! Elise was so relaxed she almost fell asleep! She isn't even a thumb sucker, but yet she lay like this for about 15 minutes, just floating around.  She really loves the water.  

awww

Matthew isn't a huge fan of the water, but he likes the water toys.  He spent most of the morning on the side of the pool.

cool spiderman shorts

Poor Matthew got bit on the back by a horse fly.  He was on the other side of the pool and suddenly he was saying, "ow ow, my back!" I went over there and it was even bleeding a little.  He got over it fast, but in this picture he's reaching back trying to touch the spot he got bitten because it still hurt a little.

Matthew loves boats

 Alaina had an okay time in the water, it's not her favorite thing to do yet at this point, but if she's anything like Katie, Danielle and Johanna, it will be in no time. :)

sweet Lainers

Now she's showing off her cool tricks she learned... look she's putting her face in the water!! After swim lessons everyday she'd find her teacher and tell him she put her face in the baby pool.  Silly girl. :)

plugging her nose and putting her face in.  that's as far as she went in. :)

Showing me how she learned to "kick" in her 2 days of lessons. :)

The kids all had a great time! We plan to go again this summer just to reinforce what they have already learned and hopefully learn more! I think confidance in the water, and of course knowing how to swim are very important. I recently read about a little 3 year old boy that fell into a well and was able to keep himself floating in 10ft of water while he waited for his dad to get down there to help him.  In the article they said he had swimming lessons that summer and that they knew it would have been a different outcome if he hadn't! He was able to tread water for about 10 minutes I think it said, so that just confirms how important it is.