On Saturday Big A started swim lessons. She won't be two until November, and honestly I would have preferred if she had started sooner, but with me being pregnant and all, family swim time was about all we could muster. She's taking the tots swim class with her dad through the Chicago Parks program, and she really enjoyed it. There are about 20 munchkins and parents crammed into a nearly hot pool with a lovely drill sergeant as an instructor. They worked on kicking, floating, getting their ears wet, jumping, and so on. They ended a little early, after about 45 minutes, but she was exhausted. She barely made it through lunch before crashing for almost 2 hours!
When we arrived at the pool J & Big A got changed and then we all took a spot on the bleachers to wait for the current class to finish. It was an adult learn to swim class that really blew my mind. Both J & I can swim. We love the water. We grew up in Maine and there was always a lake, river, ocean, or pool to swim in. Neither of us can really remember not being able to swim. We're not "swimmers" - our crawl has horrible form and my dive is almost always a flop, but we can swim. I have actually considered signing up for the adult swim classes, because I thought it could help me swim better - laps, and get my dive down.
Thank god I've never done that!
Watching these brave people timidly try to push off of the side of the pool with a kickboard, and only make it a couple feet before standing up, really affirmed our choice to put Big A in lessons - and Little A as soon as we can. Everyone should know how to swim, not only for fun and fitness, but for safety.
Last night we took the whole fam to the pool for family swim. Big A only has lessons once a week, but if she gets lots of practice in between, I'm sure she'll be a little guppy but Christmas. It was Little A's first time swimming, but boy did she love it!
