Swimming Lessons

We've been passing the time these past two weeks with swimming lessons. Last year was an absolute disaster for Mckenna...she cried or screamed almost every day and ended up having essentially private lessons with one very patient teacher. I decided to return to the same pool since they had put up with Mckenna's irrational fear of the deep end. It's amazing what a difference a year has made! Mckenna still fears the deep end but has hesitantly ventured into those waters with minimal protest. Her biggest accomplishment has been the diving board! For a kid petrified of "not being able to touch" I was so proud of her for not only jumping in with a noodle but being brave enough to try jumping onto the floating noodle. I'll confess that her new Barbie in a bathing suit was sitting pool side...bribery to motivate her to jump.

Baileigh remains my fearless fish and is willing to try just about anything in the water. She is very excited that our new neighborhood in VA has a pool and a swim team for kids over the age of five! Brooke isn't thrilled that she doesn't get to swim...but class lessons are for ages 3 and up so she'll have to wait until next summer. We pass our time with snacks, coloring and the playground.
Every time I look at this picture I'm startled with how tall and thin Mckenna has become...she has totally lost any baby look. In comparison to her big sister it's hard to see her getting bigger ...but there is no denying she is growing up! She says her goggles don't hurt...but geesh...this looks painful!
Baileigh's favorite part of class, getting to jump off the diving board in the last five minutes.
Video of Mckenna's first time off the diving board. I was so afraid she was going to get cold feet and not go through with it...then I would have to hear her begging me all weekend for the Barbie doll. Thankfully, despite some tears and resistance, she was successful and I was able to give her the reward. I'm actually a little embarrassed to post this video because I didn't even realize that I was verbalizing my thoughts! I'm trying to encourage her from the poolside...as you'll hear...if it was necessary I was fully supportive of her teacher giving her a gentle nudge (aka push) in the pool. Thankfully we didn't have to resort to forcing her to jump.


She got out and gave me a thumbs up and said, "that was easy mom!"