Swim Lessons

We had planned on the 3 older boys playing soccer together this fall.  Last year the team Caleb was on really wanted Noah on the team as well.  We had let Caleb play without Noah to give him independence from Noah, and for Noah to learn what it is like to cheer on is brother.  John and I thought it would be easy and wonderful to have all 3 on one team.  One practice, one game a week, and the boys could really put to use the "teamwork" that we stress at home.  Yet, we missed fall soccer because sign ups were a little earlier than we expected.  Being the AWESOME parents we are we decided to look into other fall options for the boys.  We found swimming lessons.

 

We put Ian and Caleb in the preschool introduction class.  They learned water safety and just got used to being in the water.  This was great for Caleb since a few years back he had decided to take off his water wings in our pool and gave all of us a scare and got to visit the ER.  He went from being overly sure of his swimming ability to not even being able to get his face wet.  By the end of the four week course he was putting his face in the water and jumping in without holding onto anyone.  Ian has not been scared and shows; he has no fear of the water.  The class really helped him learn how to be safe.  It is just not the same when Mom and Dad tells him “No” all the time; when someone else tells him it seems to sink in a little. 

Listening to the teacher- a lesson that Ian really had to focus on.

    

Ian practicing kicking and waiting for his turn

  Caleb trying to swim for the ball.  They both had a hard time getting their legs behind them when they swam.  It took a while but they finally figured it out.

  

Ian loved wearing his goggles, Caleb didn’t for some reason.


As for Noah, we put him in the introduction to swimming class.  In the class they teach basic swimming techniques.  He LOVED it!  He didn’t want the classes to end and was very upset on the day of our last class.  Noah’s teacher called him a natural swimmer and said he was ready for the next level before the classes were even over.  We were very impressed with his progress.  I’m sure before the summer comes we will have to let him take the next class. 

  

There were a few classes where the entire family went and watched.  Then Eli and Dad went once, Dad by himself and I went by myself.  Makaela wasn’t very good about “watching”, she wanted to walk and yell; which was a distraction to her big brothers.  Eli did really well watching.  He seemed to be “learning” as he watched. 

     

The binky was an attempt to keep Makaela from yelling so loudly.  Eli may have been keeping notes for the next time he got in the water.

The first time I went by myself, I was bored.  I read through fb, which I hadn’t done in a while and enjoyed just watching the boys.  The boredom was only because I felt like I should be multi-tasking!  The last class I went by myself, it was fun to watch and be able to see the difference a few classes a week had made.  I also took a camera and took pictures of the boys swimming and Noah going down a water slide.  Noah thought that it was "AWESOME!"  He was so excited that he was allowed to go and of course the other boys were upset.  For some reason I’m not having any luck with cameras, because this camera somehow deleted all the pictures I took and a ton of other ones.  No, this wasn’t the one I had dropped at Halloween.  I’m glad we didn’t wait until the last class to take any pictures.

Caleb told me Sunday he had swim lessons on Monday.  I told him that swim lessons were over and he just frowned.  I'm glad the boys enjoyed the lessons and I guess we might have to do it again sometime.