Today was Belén’s first swim lesson.  Andy has been looking forward to this day at least since I was 20 weeks pregnant.  He mentioned it at that time, but he has probably been thinking about it longer than that.  To be honest, I didn’t understand why the minute she met the age qualification for the class, she was signed up, but there are certain bubbles I try and not burst regardless of my lack of enthusiasm (did I mention we purchased a new truck last weekend?That also fell in this category).

We arrived at the downtown YMCA around 9:45am for the 10am class.  I took her into the female family locker room, one I used to avoid like the plague, pre-kid. It was awkward trying to get her dressed in her swimsuit using only the little changing table hanging on the wall.  She was pretty cooperative in spite of the fact that she was really more ready for a nap than a new adventure.  Her sleepiness made her less playful than when she had tried on her swimsuit (and played piccabo with me) the night before.

I finally got her in her swimsuit and put on her robe and crocs for the commute from the locker room to the pool.  Here she is with dad once we were reunited in the pool area.

Belén ready for her swim lesson

Always ready for a new adventure, Belén was pretty awake once we were down at the pool.  When we figured out where the class was going to take place, Andy took off her shoes and robe and  took her into the pool.  We met the teacher of the class and I was glad to hear the name of the class was “Parent and Child,” which doesn’t have the ring of “Mommy and Me” but it is much more accurate of who should be involved in these classes.

Lap swimming anyone?

Andy and Belén at Parent and Me Swimming Class

I took a few pictures and then jumped into the pool to join the class.

Um, mom

Look, a rubber duckie!

There were only two other kids in the class and they were both closer to the maximum age of the class (3 years old.)  They were experts on all of the skills that the class introduced and were not afraid to demonstrate them.  Belén was totally game for all of the activities though.  After the introduction from the teacher, who had been teaching this class at YMCAs in various states for over twenty years, we spent the 30 minutes doing the following:

moving our arms in a crawl stroke action (for Belén that meant trying to grab the rubber duckie and splashing)

kicking (for Belén, Andy and I moving her legs in a kicking motion)

blowing bubbles (Andy and I blowing bubbles really loudly  while she stared at us intently)

jumping in and out of pool (Andy and I pulling her out of the pool and nudging her to fall back into our arms)

back floating (while she rested against Andy or I)

She has a ways to go with all of the activities, but she has the splashing down really well.

The class ended with song time.  ”Ugh, really?”  was my internal response to the first of probably 1,423 group song sessions I have ahead of me through this kid journey.  Together we sang “The people in the pool” to the tune of “The Wheels of the Bus” while we bobbed around in a group circle.  The finale was “Motorboat, Motorboat.” I really hope I am going to be able to get over feeling dumb singing songs like this in public.  Everyone else seemed to embrace it.

Thirty minutes later, the class was done and it was a success.  Belén was happy throughout the class…no crying, no pooping, no falling asleep.  She seemed serious as she does during most new activities, but we think she had fun.  Showering and getting dressed afterwards, not so much…but at that point we were really pushing it with a lack of nap time.

I am glad that Andy signed her up for the class.  It was a great experience for all of us and I am thrilled that she is getting used to the water at such a young age.  I don’t plan to push any activities on her, but I really do hope she likes swimming because that is one discipline that is so much easier to learn as a child.  Both Andy and I tried to pick up distance swimming as an adult for triathlon training and it has been no easy task.

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