Swimming Lessons 101 - Day 2

SUCCESS!! The lessons I learned last week and Carly's extra lessons with her Daddy on Saturday and Sunday in the neighborhood allowed today's lessons to go WONDERFULLY!!! She sat on the edge of the pool with a large grin on her face while I got in the water. I did a little splashing and wiping her down with the water before I made a big production of putting her in the pool. I got her feet wet and bounced her out, then she went in up to her knees and bounced out, then her waist, and finally her chest. The entire time with a HUGE smile. We continued to play while others got into the pool and she was eager for today's first song - The Wheels on the Bus. She also really enjoyed shouting "HOORAY!" in If You're Happy and You Know It because then she was bobbed in and out of the water.

During the first part of the lesson we practiced blowing bubbles (which Carly wasn't into today, but enjoyed having them blown into her face), practiced moving our arms and legs through the water, and grabbing on to the edge of the pool. Then we got out the kick boards and sang Motorboat, Carly absolutely loved this. She held onto the top of the kick board and let her feet dangle off. The objective was that each baby would kick as we pushed them through the water singing. Carly just really enjoyed holding on to the board and having the water rush around her while we sang. She then worked on floating and actually did really well. She rested her head on my shoulder while the rest of her body floated along. Then came the BIG event of today's lessons - submersion. Which she did!! There was a slight (5 seconds or less) fussy spell afterwards, but it was very short lived. Then when we were pushing and swimming after a Mickey Mouse ball she was actually putting her face in the water to extend her stretching ability/length. We ended today's lesson with two more songs and a very tired little Carly.

She fought off taking a nap during much of the car ride home. Instead she babbled for much of the route, I'm sure telling me all about her big and happy adventure in the pool, until she finally crashed.