Today the boys had their first swim lesson. It was suppose to be last Tuesday however I confused the days and thought it was Thursday. On Wednesday I decided I had better check, just to make sure. In retrospect, I should have done that on Monday:). Oh well.
So today was their first lesson, although it should have been their second. There are two little girls who are in their group and they all appear to be around the same 4 year old age.
The boys and I had made two visits to the swim school and had watched lessons. After each visit both boys seemed very excited to take lessons. Yesterday I reminded them that today they would have their first lesson and Ben started to cry, telling me he just wanted to watch Nick take lessons. We talked about it and I encouraged and reassured him a lot and then we forgot about it until today. He did fine, until we drove into the parking lot, at which time he reminded me that he only wanted to watch. Again, I encouraged him and reassured him that it would be fun.
We went in and got them changed into their swim trunks and then went into the pool area. We were about five minutes early, which was perfect because I did not want them to feel rushed or nervous about being rushed. They have mats along the edge of the pool (back a little ways) for them to wait until it is time for their lesson so I told the boys to sit on the mats. I was talking to the coordinator lady, telling her I wanted to talk to their teacher when Ben started crying. I got on my knees next to him (he was standing at this point) and hugged him and reassured and encouraged him again. The coordinator lady found him a toy boat to play with, to take his mind off of his fears. That worked great and then the two little girls arrived and we were making introductions and then the teacher came over and we were making more introductions and he was still playing with the boat so he forgot about being scared. I spoke to the teacher and told her Ben had had a traumatic water experience and was scared and had been crying and then I left the pool area and went to the viewing room. They have two large rooms for people to watch, one on each of the long sides of the pools, with large plate glass windows and lots of chairs so it is very parent friendly.
I am happy to say that both boys had a great time and their teacher was absolutely wonderful. She made it fun and neither of them were scared. They both had smiles on their faces the entire time and she obviously took special care with Ben. He even gave her a hug and kiss when we were leaving. They both talked about it all day and couldn't wait to tell daddy about it. They are so excited to go again and each of them, at different times today, told me he wished they could go again tomorrow.
I am so relieved and it was an answer to prayer. We had been practicing having more water in the face when we have taken baths recently and I think that paid off. They each put their face in the water several times and they were fine with it. She had them do things, such as jump in from the side of the pool, while holding her hands, in such a way where they would splash big enough to get water in their face and they did fine with that too. She is definitely an ace at teaching kids and I sat and watched in awe. They really know how to do it in a fun way, without making the kids feel scared or threatened at all. I am still amazed...can you tell?
The boys will have one lesson a week through sometime in May I think. They probably have one week off during that time for something or another and then we are planning a trip to Arizona for sometime in Feb. or March also so they will miss one more week. Hopefully that will be the only week they miss, other than the first one that we missed because I didn't have my act together:(. They also open the pool for family swim time on the weekends and we can go for $2 each and I think we can go for free if we miss a lesson for whatever reason. So hopefully we can fit that in some time too.
So, that's the scoop on the swim lessons. We are all excited and happy about the first day. Yay!
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