Swimming In Routine

This past week was all about getting back into our routines.

School started back on the 7th and the girls quickly realized that we were serious about having to get up in the morning. B&B also returned to preschool and Carie and Spencer returned to their morning routines.

The kids then started swimming lessons this past week and they'll go twice a week for this session. We plan to also enroll them for the next session; we are just waiting to see how Mr. Spencer does before we enroll him again. The girls are very happy to be back in swimming lessons!

Spencer is enrolled in the "preschool" level that has an age requirement of 3 years. I asked them if we could enroll him since he's not yet 3 and they were happy to let him enroll. Looking at him they'd never know he wasn't 3! We were hoping it would be a great experience; unfortunately the jury is still out.

He loves playing in the water and swimming with us. He'll jump in (to us) without hesitation. He has fun in the water. Unfortunately his teacher hasn't seen any of that! He's been hesitant to be there. He wants us to get in with him. He easily gets in without us "making" him, but he's just not happy about being there. He happily (mostly) participates when it is his 1:1 turn with the instructor, but when he's hanging out by the edge of the pool he suddenly remembers that he wants us to be there with him. Towards the end of the 2nd class we pulled him and who knows if he'll continue or not.

The thing is, once we are leaving the pool he is talking up a storm about how great and fun his swimming lesson was and all the things he got to do. He talks about it like he loved it and he talks about going back. Anyone talking to him about his swimming lessons would never know how pitiful he was during the lesson.

So we discovered that the pool has open swim on the weekends and we went as a family yesterday. What a great family activity! It was awesome and very inexpensive! He talked it all up until we got there and then he wanted to go home. Well, it was also naptime (the only open swim time!) and we had messed things up by being out of town the day before. But we forged ahead. He then talked with me about being scared and we had a great conversation about how he was feeling. The kids and I got in the pool and Carie waited to see if he really wanted to swim or go home before she got changed and into the pool. After about 30 seconds he asked Mommy to get in with us and we all had a fantastic time. It was amazing to see the skills all 3 of them had learned in swimming lessons. The girls were really swimming and moved themselves through the water all on their own. They were so much fun to watch. Spencer has clearly paid attention in his couple of lessons as he wanted us to do the things he had learned. He was also determined to swim on his own and frequently tried to get away from us. Thankfully he and Carie found a great spot where he could "do it himself". It would be easier if the pool had a zero depth entrance! The best part was when he told me he was having a great time and he wasn't scared anymore.

I guess we'll see how this week plays out. We'll be prepared for him to go to swim lessons if he wants. If he's scared, we'll talk it through. But if he really just doesn't want to go, then he won't. We'll just have a lot of time to kill with him while Abby & Ellie are in their lessons.