After Maddie's graduation we spent a fun week with my parents. I signed Anna up for a week of swim lessons to take advantage of their pool and get her ready for summer. To say she was hesitant and suspicious of "Coach Mark" the morning of her first lesson is an understatement...
Given the decibel level of her screams and protests, my parents' neighbors probably thought we were torturing the child. However, through all of the hysterics, she did comply (due mostly to Coach Mark's easy demeanor) and by the end of the week learned to swim to the pool wall, climb out of the pool, take a breath, "choo choo" along the wall, and "dive" for objects on the lowest pool step. And (eventually) all without screaming, thank goodness.
During the lessons Coach Mark taught her (and me) some songs to remind her of swimming basics and used fun toys like a stretchy frog (Popo), a silly fish (Mr. Blue), and a Cinderella dive stick (totally won Anna over) to keep her interest. She is now eager to spend time in the pool and, while I won't throw her in the deep end and walk away, I have some peace of mind that she'll be able to frolic more safely in the water.
On the last day of lessons Anna was giddy when Coach Mark told her he was going to throw her in the pool with her clothes and shoes on to show her she could swim in clothes in case she ever fell in the pool. She thought getting her shoes wet was, "so cool".
As a reward for doing so well at lessons we got her a set of the princess dive sticks and she logged no less than 2 hours in the pool on Saturday playing with them. She also logged 2.5 hour naps each afternoon - swimming is magic!
A big thank you to Coach Mark, Mr. Blue and Popo!!
No comments:
Post a Comment