Ethan's First Swim Lesson

This morning Ethan and I woke up bright and early and headed to his first swim lesson at the indoor pool on base. I was a little anxious, and if Ethan understood where he was going he would've been a lot of anxious. Every time I've taken him to the pool this year (whether that be the indoor pool, the outdoor pool or the baby pool in our backyard) he has detested it (unless naked, that is). I mean, he wasn't crazy about the pool last year, but by the end of the summer he warmed up to the idea and would at least go in with one of us. So I was hoping maybe this summer he'd be ready to jump right in (literally). But alas, his fears all came rushing back and he wouldn't even dip his toe in without screaming at the top of his lungs.

Suddenly signing him up for this 8-day swim class seemed like a bad idea. Eight half hour swim lessons of pure screaming flashed before my eyes, but I tried to stay positive. I crossed my fingers that the routine of getting in the pool everyday might relax him a little and get him to actually enjoy swimming (like I do so much).

We arrived a little early to the pool, which turned out to be a good thing because there were swim lessons already going on and Ethan could see all the other kids splashing around and having fun. You could tell he was hesitant at first (clinging to my body), but he quickly wanted to get down and walk around the pool to watch the other children.

Finally 8am rolled around. We walked down the stairs into the pool (Ethan in my arms) and successfully got into the water (no screaming, hooray!). Then, per the instructors advice, swayed the babies back and forth until submerged up to their shoulders. Ethan wasn't thrilled about this, but he clung onto my body (even tighter) and still didn't scream. It wasn't until the instructor told us to get the children to put their legs out and kick that Ethan lost it. I can just hear his little thoughts now, "I'm sorry, what? You want me to unwrap my legs from around my mother's waist and kick? You want me to detach myself from all that is safe? In this big abyss? Oh no no no. No sir, no thank you." And so that went for the next 20 minutes. Attempting to get Ethan to kick. Ethan screaming. Watching the other kids kick and blow bubbles and splash. Ethan screaming. Letting Ethan sit on the side of the pool. No screaming. Putting Ethan back into the pool. Ethan screaming.

Fortunately, I have a pretty high level of patience when it comes to my little guy, so we just kept working at it. And working at it. And working at it. And it wasn't until the instructor pulled out the kickboards that Ethan's eyes finally lit up. Without even having to coach him, he let go of me and grabbed onto the kickboard. With my hands under his belly and legs, and his upper body on the kickboard, everything was fine. I asked him to kick, he kicked. I asked him to blow bubbles, he blew bubbles. It was like night and day! It felt like all that worry beforehand and positive-thinking and finger-crossing was worth it just to see him happy and relaxed in a pool! Yay!

Hopefully tomorrow won't take 20 minutes of screaming prior to the happy/fun time in the pool, but I guess we'll just have to cross our fingers some more and wait and see!