we finally enrolled harper in swim class at the emler swim school right behind our house. super convenient for us to just have to walk over for her lessons on saturday mornings at 10:30. momeesh gets into the water with her and they splash around for 30 minutes. they sing songs, learn how to walk the wall and try to get them used to being on their backs. she spent most of the first lesson crying, but as the instructor said, it wasn't a freak out cry. more of a, "what is going on here?" cry. then next lesson, she was little more comfortable and only cried a little. i think she is getting used to the routine and songs they sing too. she probably notices that things are so bad, especially seeing other kids in her class enjoying it. at the end of every lesson, they put the kids on a floating square, spin them around and sing, "bye bye (insert name here), bye bye (insert name here), bye bye (insert name here, we're glad you came to swim." the kids wave goodbye to their friends and each one gets to be the center of attention. this has become harper's favorite part. if you ask her if she wants to go swim, she will start singing this song. it is super cute when she sings it, as she says her own name. she pronounces it without the first "r." sounds like, "ha-pa." last saturday she went completely under the water. we were very proud of her. she didn't seem to get scared or alarmed in any way. oddly enough, when it came time for her favorite part to sing goodbye to everyone, she cried. they placed her on the float and she started to cry! oh well. maybe next time. it is very chaotic in the 90 degree indoor pool, with multiple classes going on at the same time. overall i think she is enjoying it. or maybe she enjoys the part where we walk across the street for lunch after her lesson where she devours a thundercloud turkey and cheese sandwich?
i was never really (and still not) confident in the water. was it because i never completed swim lessons? or maybe it was because our mom didn't let us go to the public pool where we might get an infection. i really hope she learns to be an awesome swimmer and enjoys it. most importantly, i want her to be safe.
