Skip to main content

Baby Swim Class: It's ofishally awesome!

Mmmmm...kickboard flavored by chlorine.
Ever since his second bath (the first didn't go so well), Leo has loved being in the water.  As long as it's the right temperature and he's with a conscientious adult, he totally digs splashing, kicking, and generally rabble rousing when immersed in a liquid state of matter (we haven't tried other liquids, but we assume they would also be a success). So, when a friend of ours told us that she and her son would be enrolling in the "Shrimp" class at the Y, it was a given that we would also enroll our own crustacean. 


Nobody told me that I would have to wear this cap.
Eric and I both went since it was Leo's first time.  I changed in the women's locker room and left the task of changing squirmy baby in dirty locker room to Eric.  When we arrived on the pool deck, there were several other dads and babies and only one other mom (I assume the others had all decided to stay home and take naps - smart move, anonymous moms).  The instructors were two no-nonsense ladies in their 60's.  They guided us to either clasp our babies against our chests while getting into the pool or to hand them our baby while we climbed into the pool on our own.  They made it pretty clear there was no third option, so I decided on number two.  
Oh man, those flags on the ceiling are super cool. 
Once we were in the water, the instructors led us in a variety of different activities for the next 30 minutes.  I lifted Leo up and down in the water, put him on his belly in the water and placed him on the kickboard and led him around the water.  Leo also played "catch" with a new friend named Jack and laughed at me blowing bubbles in his face. My favorite was when they threw all of these foam fish into the pool, I led Leo to them, he picked them up, and then we brought them to the side of the pool together.  Leo's favorite was probably the Humpty Dumpty rhyme which ended with me pushing off of the wall on my back with him extended in front of me - little splash!  The funniest part was that the instructors kept selecting Leo to be the "Demo Baby"!


Whee! Swimming is easy when someone else is doing all the work!
All in all, swim class was a total success!  We can't wait for next weekend!  

Comments

  1. Leo was also the "demo baby" since he was so relaxed, the instructors borrowed him to show each new activity.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dana's Birth Story: Part 2

When we last left off, I had just been told that I might want to abort the pregnancy due to suspected placenta accreta. Hot times! Pregnant in the background! There are many  things I do not like about living in a large city. Noise. Lack of open fields of wildflowers. The smell of garbage in the summer.  However, lack of access to medical care is not one of these problems.  After doing some frantic googling, I decided that I would consult a high risk OB/GYN to see what they had to say about my hungry placenta. I scheduled an appointment for a second opinion for which I had to wait a week. What a long week that was!  The doctor that I was referred to was a balding Israeli who I had to work really hard to make laugh (always my goal in any medical appointment). Upon reviewing my ultrasound, he said he was not even sure I had placenta accreta and that even if I did have it, there were measures that could be taken to prevent the worst case scenario.  ...

Teaching Your Toddler

It's no secret that I had TERRIBLE classroom management skills when I became a teacher.  What do you mean the kids aren't going to do exactly what I tell them to do the first time?  Luckily, I had the fortune of working with a teacher with amazing classroom management skills and I began to hone my techniques to the point where I didn't need to worry about management anymore.  Even though I had this experience, I still expected Leo to listen to me the first time I asked him to do something. hahahafail.  Eventually I realized that I could use some of my teaching skills to make this stay-at-home mom thing easier.  Planning - I think I've mentioned this is a previous post, but I really feel so much better about the day when I have a plan going into it.  Even if we wind up deviating from it, having a morning and afternoon outing, and a morning and afternoon indoor activity provides some structure for my day and for the kids.  If I have a plan, I'm much mo...

Happy and Healthy: Part 1 - (It's really all about the clothes.)

Whenever people asked me whether I wanted to have a boy or a girl while carrying Leo and Seth, I usually said, we don't care, we just want a baby who is happy and healthy!  Sometimes I would say, there are pluses and minus to both!  Rarely did I say what I was actually thinking: that a baby's biological gender doesn't say anything for certain about the personality of that child or even necessarily about the gender that they will eventually identify as. Because most people see this answer as crazy-pants-hippie-talk. Don't get me wrong - there are certainly stereotypical boy and girl traits that are embodied by many boys and girls.  These are stereotypes for a reason - they are common.  We all know what these traits are: boys are tough, girls are gentle.  Boys love trucks, girls love dolls.  The list goes on.  When people ask "Boy or girl?", I am sure that these are the traits that they are picturing.  These expectations, though, feel wrong to...