our little swimmers

We haven't had the kids in the pool very much this summer.  But, some friends raved about Ms. Janis's swim classes and since they are only for two kids, they seemed perfect.  We ended up with a 3:15 time slot, which is great for some reasons, but not so great for others.  The main drawback is that they aren't napping as early as we would like, so I had to wake them up for class.  Plus, we were out late last night, so Rafa was TIRED.  He's already difficult in these situations (doesn't like water on his face, slightly terrified of water, and never likes to perform or prove he's learning on demand, prefers to try when nobody is looking), but the lack of sleep surely didn't help. 

Sylvia jumped right in and tried her darnedest to get out of everyone's arms and swim on her own.  She followed directions well and did some things that she had never done before!  It was all very fun for her.  She did hit her limit at the end and had had enough of going under the water.  But, she tried everything and learned fairly quickly that she could do most of it.

Rafa, on the other hand, needed some time to warm up to being in the pool.  About 30 minutes or so.  Out of a 45 minute class...  He really didn't want to have to perform on command, even for things that I know he can do.  For instance, the teacher really wanted to get the kids to blow out of their noses on command.  Well, after many months of allergies and colds, I am 100% certain that both children can do it.  But, neither of them really wanted to prove it, certainly not Rafa.  Sylvia at least gave it a half-hearted attempt.  Once we got home and I asked him to blow his nose because of more snot, he asked if he should do it like in swim class and put his finger in front of his nose, like Ms. Janis did to discover if they were indeed blowing out of their noses.  Yeah, thanks buddy. 

Here is Sylvia doing a starfish.  I assume because it has something to do with floating?...  I always floated like a board and moved my arms.  Maybe I can float more easily?  I hope to learn something from this class, too!

And here are both kiddos "swimming" across.  You can see Rafa kicking a little.  And since he's peacefully participating, it wasn't one of the times when he thrust his arms around my neck and clung to me out of pure fear.  There was marked improvement in both kids by the end of class.  I'm really excited to see what progress they'll make these next two weeks.  AND, many thanks to Tia Candy who came to help and also helped us document the fun!