Swim Lesson - mid July

This year, Riley and I took the "Parent and Tot" swim class through "the Y" (as it is now officially called). There is a pool store in town next to the Y that lets them use their outdoor sample pool for these lessons. The classes were for two weeks, half an hour everyday. We took the class with our friends Miss Amber and Ashlyn. It was a lot of fun. At first, Riley was nervous. I heard a lot of "Mama, hold you!"s. Of course, I was holding him when he said it, but I think he was thinking tight squeeze. He loosened up a little everyday. I think watching the video of his friend Natalie blow bubbles under the water really helped him be brave (thank you, Carla, for posting that!). Everytime he would get tense, I would remind him of Natalie, so he got to where he said "like Natalie" a lot and would be more brave. He loved when we sang "Wheels on the Bus" and did different things in the water. He was almost totally loose whenever we did that. He got to where he really liked to "torpedo" off the side of the pool. They sit on the edge with their hands together above their heads and you gently pull them in. He also like "step-jump" where they step onto your hand, while you're holding their hand with your other hand, into the pool. He got more jump-like each time. He never was crazy about going under, but we didn't push it. Maybe next year. He did do it a few times though the first week. The water felt so awesome on those hot, hot, hot afternoons. Of course, it's only hotter now! The half-hour lessons flew by. On the last day of swim lessons, all of the kids actually "swam" a little on their own. Each had a noodle supporting their chest and under their arms. Riley didn't do the swim arms great (well, his right arm wasn't bad), but he did kick and kick. He was proud of himself for letting me let go of the noodle. Riley was pretty good about blowing bubbles and was great at "bubbles, ear." Scott came one day and got a good video of that. Next year, his class will be a big step up. Hopefully, he will enjoy it. A couple of times, our class got rescheduled because of a storm. One of those times, we were already there - the sky looked great, but right before class started, we heard thunder. Riley cried the whole way home! It was sad. I'm so glad we did these lessons, since this is the last year that I will be in the pool with him.