Swimming Lessons Day 1

Today we started swimming lessons.  I finally decided yesterday that we should try it.  I was hoping for Saturday lessons but the pool with the warm water doesn't have Saturday lessons.

Everyone in our house is feeling a little under the weather.  Sam has a runny nose, Paul is stuffy, I have a sore throat and Emily is just mad so something isn't right with her either.  So the events leading up to arriving at the pool involve a lot of Emily crying.  But we made it with time to spare.

Once we got to the pool the kids were ready to get in.  The Mountain View swimming pool has a slide that is a big frog.  Sam was super excited and was ready to go down right away but we needed to do the first day of lessons talk.  Our class was called and we met our teacher, Courtney.

We were able to get right into the pool.  I'm so glad we are taking lessons there where the water is warm. It felt like a nice warm bath.  Sam got to slide down the slide to get in and he was pretty happy about it.  Then we played with toys for a little bit.  Sam sat in my lap for most of the play time and played with the rings and then started throwing all the balls.  Silly boy... He was throwing them away from us and then saying, "Bye, bye."  Emily was playing with the rings for awhile and then found the watering cans.  Lately in the bath she has been loving to dump the watering cans over her head.  So she was trying but was getting more water on the poor little girl behind her.  The other little boy in class was "blowing bubbles so Emily decided she should too. She mostly just dipped her face in.We sang The Wheels on the Bus and did fun water movements with it. 

Then we headed over to where the adults could stand, phew.  We did some jumping in from the side.  Sam actually starting "jumping" in on his own.  It was more of a walk in.  Emily was just too excited to jump on her own.  I would do the countdown and she would squeal.  I love that she gets so excited.  Courtney came over and had Emily jump for her.  She also had her practice climbing out.  She did the same for Sam too. 

Then we got balls and practiced our arms while we "swam" after them.  Sam's throwing was all over.  He was doing a great job of kicking his feet towards the ball and he did some arm movement.  Emily used her arms if you showed her or reminded her to use them.  Sam wasn't so interested in letting Courtney hold him while he threw the ball.

Then we practiced our back floats.  Emily really has never allowed me to have her float on her back.  If I'm lucky I would get half a second with her head on my shoulder.  She did amazing tonight.  She just laid back and looked up at the ceiling, which had balls stuck in it.  Courtney came by and said that she was running her hands through her hair as she was laying on her back.  Too funny.  I even was able to just hold her head and almost let go of her back before she got nervous and wanted to sit up.  Emily wasn't so interested in floating on her back with Dad.  She just cried.  Sam did great too.  I have, at one point in time, been able to get him to float on his back while I just held his head.  He too was interested in the ball in the ceiling.  After we were done floating he wanted to put his ears under.  So he was practicing his breathing position.  Ha ha!

It was time for a little more playing so Sam went down the slide a bunch more times.  Emily tried it but wasn't a fan.  The slide has a not so slick spot about 6 inches from the top and Sam would finally start to go and then get stuck and he would have to scootch (not sure if that is a word) down until the slick spot again.  It was pretty cute.

We tried to beat the big kids into the locker room.  Emily is not a fan of the shower.  She did quietly sit in the corner with her towels on and watched the big kids while I got dressed. 

I'm so glad we decided to do lessons.  I really just want the kids to stay in the water.  I know that without having to pay we are unlikely to make it to the pool much this fall and winter.  They both love the water and I want it to stay that way.

And now some unrelated pictures... (The downfall of having twins is that you never have a photographer.  I was a little jealous of the two dads who were taking pictures of their little ones.  That combined with my broken lens means no pictures for us.)

How do you play with cars?  While sitting in a plastic tub of course.

Trying out Emily's headband until someone schedules a haircut for me.