Well, to say it's been a while since I last blogged is the understatement of the year. But my BFF Erin posted last night her birth story of having her twins and I was inspired to set aside some time at least once a month to update the world on our beautiful Charlotte.
This week's adventure: Swim Lessons
Jeremy and I went back and forth for nearly two weeks after coming back from our Hawaiian adventure on what type of swim lessons we should enroll Charlotte in. We went to the pool with a few friends that weekend and Charlotte was stepping off the edge into the deep end where daddy could catch her. This little girl has adventure and fearlessness written all over her. I know this from previously enrolling her in infant swim that having children jump into your arms in the pool gives them a false sense of security and leads them to believe that if and when they fall in a pool someone will always be there to catch them.
She LOVES the water and all last week I was letting her go under water as she stepped off the pool bench to me and immediately turning her to float on her back. She did so without tears, but a bit of hesitation with floating.
We struggled between the decision to put her in a two week advanced swim class where she goes 4x/wk for 30 minute session, or ISR (which is learning safety techniques) 5x/wk for 10 min. It came down to budget, and for the next two weeks she'll be enrolled in SwimKids USA Jump Start program.
Yesterday was her first lesson and thankfully the other two children didn't show up because she as soon as I handed her off to her instructor, the tears came. She held onto his swim shirt with a death grip and anytime he pulled her away to sit on the step, hold onto the wall, change position, her world was coming to an end.
I found myself glancing from left to right, sure I would be getting side glances from all of the other parents as I had "that" child who was going to hate to learn to swim. But what I found were empathetic eyes as moms and dads shared their children did the same. HUGE internal sigh of relief! But I was also a bit in shock about how uncomfortable she was. She LOVES the water....what's her deal?
Well her morning nap was 20 minutes at best, with nearly 30 minutes of crying to get there; and I had to wake her up from her afternoon nap to get to swim. She usually eats right after nap, and I didn't get a chance to feed her anything, and on top of all of that, she's got 3 teeth coming in, one of which is a molar (yes, it's been a rough few weeks).
After about half of the session had passed, her instructor slowly made his way toward me and asked, "does she like fishy crackers by any chance?" Our go-to mute button, OF COURSE SHE DOES! I think I said that a little too enthusiastically. Well, ONE fish did the trick....ONE!
A whole new toddler emerged and she rocked the second half of her lesson. She floated on her back, head resting on his shoulder. She sat on the step like a big girl for over a minute without needing prompting to stay put. She held onto the edge of the pool wall independently for 30+ seconds, and she even went under water a few times without flinching.
Today she'll head to swim with daddy, so I'm interested to see if that makes any difference. I also wonder if she'll be the only one again, or if her two partners in crime will show up. I never quite understood when mother's told me, after expressing my unconditional love for my daughter, that "it only gets better." But man is that true. I am LOVING this stage of development, making huge leaps with her vocabulary, learning to swim, being her adorable sassy self. Yes, it's exhausting being in constant learning mode, but she's taking it all in stride and I couldn't be more proud of the little girl that she is becoming.
Here's a few pics from her first official lesson:
Floating on her back:
Sitting like a big girl on the step:
Holding onto the wall all by herself:
