Swim Boo! Swim Yay!

Lydia took her first swim class at 6 months. She loved it.

Lydia at 8 months

She took swim most of her first year. She loved it.

Lydia at swim 2012

Right when she turned 2 we took a break. Why did we take a break? Well we had a baby and moved.

This past March we started swim classes again. Nightmare. She no longer loved it, she hated it. She screamed. She cried. She clawed. She clinged. Do not be deceived by her delighted look below. On this day, she didn't even enter the pool. She sat on the edge.

Other moms looked and provided a series of comments some useful; some not so useful. It's hard to take people seriously when you watch them yell " You are fat! Why are you so fat! Fatso!" at their 18m old kid on the sideline. Regardless, it was brutal to watch Lydia in the pool. Her coach did things that made me gasp from the comfort of the air conditioned parent waiting room, but he won her over. Then they split the class in half since they had 3 instructors working with 9 kids, they created 2 classes one of 4, the other of 5. Lydia was not longer with her preferred coach (mostly because of fatso's mom, but that's another story) and so the torment begun again. The other coach was very nice but let her get away with everything, so we spent a lot of time going to the bathroom, being whiny and being clingy.

We finished another session without much accomplished. This time I made a point of making sure she was with her previous coach, who lovingly tells her to shut it and suck it up. At the beginning of June, she began again with him. The first few classes she clinged, she cried, and scream in terror. Every afternoon she had swim, she would throw a colossal fit when I told her we were going to class and it would take almost a full 30 minutes to get her in her suit.

There were days where she sucked the life out of that poor guy and days she didn't get the coveted lollipop at the end of the class, and finally yesterday we had a great class! No tears! She floated! She kicked! She did great!

She was so deeply scared. Don't get me wrong a healthy fear of the water is encouraged for little ones, in Florida, especially as a pool owner, however we had to help her understand the difference between respecting the water and being safe with a trusted adult. I was so proud yesterday of her success!

Now we take a 2 week break. Sigh. Crossing my fingers.