Sadie has loved water for as long as I can remember. Whether it's taking a bath, playing with her water table outside or going swimming. She took swimming lessons last summer & did pretty good - honestly, I was really surprised what she could do as a 6 month old! But then we took the fall off due to college football, traveling & the holidays - boy was that a mistake! Her Grammy & Grandpa surprised her with a free activity in her stocking, so Bryan & I decided to try swimming lessons again. She started going in January & we have been going once a week since then. She still goes to Emler Swim School & is enrolled in their Water Babies class which is a Mommy & Me class. The first month was hard because it was cold outside (who wants to go swimming when it's in the 30's outside?) and she hadn't been in a couple of months. So it took some time for her to get used to it again. By February she was on old pro & loving every minute of it!
We normally go on Tuesday mornings while Bryan is working, so of course I have absolutely no pictures because I am in the water with her. Fortunately, we missed a class so we had to go to a make up lesson which was a night class. I was so excited because 1. Bryan got to go watch her 2. Bryan got to get in with her so I didn't have to for once 3. I could take pictures!
The class is the exact same every single time because at this age repetition is key. We always sing a lot of songs while the kids kick, splash & blow bubbles:
We have group activities:
As well as individual swim time:
Sadie loves to play on the floating island:
And she has learned how to pull her self up & crawl out of the pool by her self:
Of course there's a lot of play time too & she is always trying to steal one of the colorful balls that float around:
This little diva loves the attention & soaks up every ounce of it while she's on display:
She also learned how to float on her back & she can go under water for 7 seconds by herself. I tried to video her swimming from the teacher to Bryan but it's not the best she's done. She was a little skiddish in the water last night because it was a different teacher & she's not used to swimming with Bryan. He did great, he's just not as familiar as I am since I have been doing this for months!
But her most favorite part is going down the slide. Normally her teacher lets her slide down the slide by herself & when she falls into the water she will swim to me while I count to 7. Then I pull her up. This teacher didn't know how comfortable she was, so she kind of dropped her in instead of letting her slide in - but you get the picture.....
Obviously I went a little crazy taking pictures of her last night because I was so proud of her! I can't believe how strong she is in the water & she's not even 1 1/2 years old :) This round of swimming lessons ends at the end of May, so I think we can pull her out for the summer since we will be going to the pool quite often. I feel confident enough that I can continue to work with her on my own while we can take advantage of the free outdoor pool while the weather is warm, but next winter we will not be taking a break. I hope to expose her during the colder months so she doesn't forget everything we have taught her!
Thanks Dad for going swimming with her last night - I think it's safe to say that both of you had a good time!
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