Swimming Lessons

I was so excited to find a local swim class for Matthew! It was held at one of the pools in the neighborhood that I grew up in and I was able to get my parents "members" discount - even better! Matthew had classes 4 days a week from June 29th through July 9th, and I was truly AMAZED at his progress after 8 little sessions. Up to that point, he was hesitant in the water and a bit nervous. He would go to my mom or dad briefly, but preferred only to be held by me in the water. When it came to jumping in, he wouldn't leave the edge without holding on to at least one finger on each of my hands, and he wasn't too thrilled about blowing bubbles and going under the water.

His teacher was Kelly (who actually lives on the same street as my parents!), and she was wonderful with him. He cried at first that I wasn't getting in with him, but Kelly found a ring for him to throw. Soon he forgot that he wasn't with mommy in the pool and started having fun throwing it and kicking ("swimming") over to get it. She was patient and never pushed him too far past his comfort zone. Matthew really liked her, and I'm so glad she was his teacher.



Learning how to do a sit dive - with lots of help from Kelly.

Jumping in to someone besides mommy was quite an accomplishment!

He became so comfortable putting his head in the water and blowing bubbles that he's been doing it in the bathtub at home too. He sticks his head so far under that his forehead thumps the bottom of the tub and he comes up laughing.

He was in class with the 5 year old son of my brother's best friend from childhood. (The first day of class was like a neighborhood reunion b/c my brother was in the area and stopped by too - fun!) Matthew and Brodie enjoyed seeing how the rope connects to the side of the pool and then looking for beetles after class was over. The kids actually knicknamed Brodie "the beetle guy" by the end of the week. Matthew has enjoyed playing with Brodie since then during visits to the pool; he's such a nice boy!

Each day at the end of class, they let kids from all levels of swimming lessons jump off the diving board if they wanted to. Brodie's confidence level in the water just exploded throughout the class and midway through the second week he took his first jump off of the diving board.

Brodie was fearless! He got up on the board and ran right off without a second's delay!

Maybe next year Matthew will want to give it a try. Even without the diving board, I am just so thrilled with Matthew's progress in the water. We've been having camera trouble, so I took these pictures with a (borrowed) camera that has a broken display -making it so I can't select any special modes, etc. I also couldn't seem to take any video with it either. My mom shot a great video on my phone though that shows how confident Matthew is now with me. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to format it to upload here on the blog - wish I could show it to you! Mom and I took him to the pool after just four days of lessons and he was a totally different kiddo! He was jumping to me (without any hand holding), going under, blowing bubbles, using his hands to "walk" along the edge of the pool, and practicing sit dives with such confidence. Tim and I are so happy that he's learning to love the water!