Swim Lessons

It's probably old news, but I thought I'd write about it since I have a few spare minutes with Ava currently taking a nap. On Wednesday, May 7th, Ava Holt had her first swim lesson at our local YMCA. The Y was just built last year and has great (and clean) facilities for swimming. Anyhow, I signed Ava up at the end of March and we anxiously waited until the 7th for her swim lessons to begin. The classes are 30 minutes long and are taught in an indoor pool. The basis for the classes is repetition, which turns into expectation.

There are only about 8 other babies in Ava's swim class, with her being the youngest. Even though she's the youngest, she's definitely not the smallest or weakest. Since her first swim class, Ava has progressed so well. This week, Ava got to advance to a big girl exercise where she got to be submerged in the water like a torpedo without having me blow in her face before going under water. The swim instructor was so proud of Ava, as she couldn't believe how well she has been doing in such a short amount of time. Since the class is so small and the babies vary from Ava to 2 years old, the instructor can individualize exercises for each child based on his or her capabilities. The submersion without blowing in Ava's face is usually used for babies around a year old, so Ava seems to be a little bit ahead of the curve...at least this week she was!

Matt has made it to every swim lesson except for this week's. He loves going and watching his girls splash around in the water like 'seahorses.' The whole class is based off silly songs and movements, so I'm sure it gets old to him each week. But, the fact that after doing each exercise, Ava straightens her neck and flings her head back and looks for his praise, makes him come back each week. It's the cutest thing watching her 'perform' for her Daddy. This week, Ava kept bobbing her head up to look for Matt (he sits in the same place each week) after each exercise, but since he wasn't there she would just turn her head from side to side to look around the pool for him. She's so dramatic.

Ava still has a long way to go until she can swim (obviously), but we wanted her to be in the classes so that she will learn to always be comfortable in the water and so that she can have some social time and interaction with other babies. Each week she remembers more and more of the exercises and she can kick and float 'like a pancake' quite well. Matt hasn't told her that pancakes don't really float just yet. He'll wait to tell her that sad story when she's a bit older. It's a buzz kill.