The Hayes Herald: Swim Lessons!

The kids' grandparents gifted them swim lessons for their Christmas present. It was the perfect set-up--four Saturdays during the winter when David would be working anyway and the kids would need something active to do. Neither of them had ever had swim lessons before. Clara was placed in the very beginner group, and Eli was in the next step up beginner (I think just because he was older).

It was a terrific experience! Clara often took a few minutes before she was willing to get into the pool. Thankfully the teachers that worked with her were patient and helpful. She usually could be convinced to go in once we brought out the rubber ducks and she could throw them and practice swimming to them. : )

Lessons started out really hard for Eli. He didn't know how to make bubbles in the water, so he was taking in a lot in his nose and honestly looked like he must be miserable. (After that first lesson I thought he'd not want to go back. He told me, "That was a lot harder than I thought it'd be!" But when I asked what he thought he said, "I love it!") I did not like his teacher. She wasn't sweet or kind and just kind of rudely expected him to do/know things, even though he'd never had a lesson before. Even so, he worked really hard and put all of his effort in it and learned quickly.

My parents were able to come to watch the last lesson, and afterwards they offered to pay for another session set, so the kids were able to have three more Saturdays of lessons. Thankfully Eli's first teacher was no longer his teacher for that set, and the next ones did much better.

Ezra and I always hung out next to the pool to watch everything. He loved to grab onto a pool noodle in a nearby bin to attempt to gnaw on.

I was so proud of how far the kids came in those 7 lessons! Especially Eli. At the end of every lesson the kids went to the deep end of the pool (with the teachers) and had to jump in while standing. This was REALLY hard for Eli. Week after week he would mostly gently climb in the water from a sitting position. It took a ton of courage for him, but by the last two weeks he made the big jump! It was such a proud moment for me to watch him jump in the water without being hesitant or scared.