Growing up as a competitive swimmer and actually being a certified swim instructor myself for several years meant that teaching our children how to swim at an early age was of no question. We would have actually had Charli in swim lessons much earlier but with everything we had going on it just did not work out. However it did work out while we were stationed here! If you remember, Charli's first ever Swim Lesson was 10 weeks ago. We signed her up for the 5 week program and ended up getting her right into the very next 5 week program immediately after.
Well, yesterday marked her very last swim lesson!
Charli has always loved the water and swimming, so for us we thought for sure this would be a breeze, and her very first swim lesson was just that... She was excited, happy, jumping up and down, splashing, kicking, blowing bubbles, you name it...
Until the very end... And the dreaded dunk!
At the end of class, Mr. Jeff would have each child jump off the side into the pool to him and would have them go under the water before he grabbed them. And that my friends is when our extremely logical toddler started screaming crying saying "Mr. Jeff pushed me unda the wata and I no how to swim!" haha! For the next 3 weeks swim lessons were terrible Steven said (this was all while I was in the hospital and recovering from surgery). She cried the entire time at each class repeating the above statement and wanted nothing to do with swimming. Thankfully a light bulb went off in her head the very last week of the first 5 week program. She finally realized Mr. Jeff was actually there to help her (which is what we had been telling her the whole time). It finally just clicked. She stopped crying, she loved splashing, kicking, and swimming again, and she even jumped off into the water to him (going under and all) with no tears! Praise the Lord!
Steven immediately signed her up for the very next set of lessons and it has been smooth sailing since! She loves everything about it. She isn't fully swimming (which we did not expect her to be that soon) but she is confident, she can hold her breath under water, and she can kick and swim keeping her head above water with a half inflated bubble on her back. We are so incredibly proud of our little fish and we know that this is just the beginning!! We know she will be fully swimming in no time!
We are so proud of you Charli!
Way to go!
Way to go!
Way to go Charli!
ReplyDeleteFound your blog through the list of bloggers doing the birthday exchange! I needed this post! Our oldest just started lessons yesterday and though he's completely cool with the shallow part of the pool, he's terrified of the "deep end". Needless to say, lessons were awful. Hopefully he'll come around like yours did!
ReplyDeleteSO cute. I am sure she will be swimming on her own in no time. I know your mom will have her in that pool all summer!
ReplyDeleteSo awesome! I had Mac in a swim class last year and he loved it, but we need to get him back in the water soon. My husband was a competitive swimmer too (and water polo player), so it's really important to him that the kids be good swimmers. This sounds like a great class!
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