Today was Owen’s first real swimming lesson! (I may or may not have mentioned that our new babysitter is also a swim instructor! BONUS!) Unfortunately, we got off to a bit of a rocky start, because of a few minor things—it was our first visit there so maybe it was just that they didn’t recognize us, but no less than three different life guards asked why we were there. Um, to swim? :crazy:
Anyway, I should have just said we were there for the “open swim” but instead I said we were there for a private swim lesson. Sounds logical, right? Because we technically were. Except that apparently it’s against the rules to have private swim lessons there if the instructor isn’t employed by the community center. Even if both of us are community center members in good standing. 🙄 On top of that, we had brought a ball because we knew Owen would LOVE it, and that wasn’t allowed, either. Ugh.
Anyway, they were actually (I think) considering asking us (or her) to leave. So she went in to the office to talk to the manager and came out saying that she told them that we were close family friends and we were going on vacation and wanted our son to be comfortable in the water, so since he was comfortable with her, she was helping out (which was mostly the truth!). Apparently they acquiesced but told her she couldn’t INSTRUCT him. 🙄 What-ever. So she played with him and then kinda half told me what to do with him and overall it all went really well.
I was a little worried at first because we sat on the steps of one of the pools and Owen did NOT want to be there at all. He refused to let go of me and was almost crying. So we got out and he wanted to walk, so we walked around the outside edge of the pool area and he seemed to be enjoying himself. By the time we got back to the beginning, he was ready to go in the pool and was splashing around a bit. And loving it!
Then Christie (babysitter/swim instructor) arrived and she tried to get him to splash and to walk deeper in the water. Then we moved on to dunking him briefly and holding him on his stomach in the water. He didn’t mind any of it—even getting dunked! We ended with more splashing in the shallow water!
Christie told us more than once that he was a joy to teach because he was soooo easy going! She said that most kids she taught were tired and whiny after 20 minutes—and overall, we spent a good hour in the water! By the end, he was getting cold and whiny but he did such a great job! YAY OWEN!
