Thursday, June 17, 2010

Taking a Swim

Caroline started Level 1 for her swimming class. She is doing awesome! I am so proud of her! She's the youngest in the class, so some of the instructions are going way over her head, but after she watches the other kids or the instructor demonstrate the technique, she picks up on it quickly. She is able to independently float on her back, holds her breath for 20 seconds (that was today!), and jumps off the diving board. Caroline tends to do the 'running man' while she is swimming on her belly, but is getting the hang of not bending her knees. She can kick correctly on her back and is blowing bubbles out her nose. The pictures are all out of order and I'm still trying to download the video of her jumping off the diving board. It's so cute!!

Her instructor came up to me today and told me that she was still on the fence about passing her to the next level, Level 2. I told her not to worry about it because I would like to keep her in Level 1 to work on her kicking. In Level 2, she has to swim the length of the pool and begins to learn freestyle swim techniques. Honestly, I don't think she's developmentally ready for that level and I don't think she's strong enough yet to get across the pool by herself. My goodness, she just turned 3! Or, maybe it's that I'm a bit freaked out for her!

A side story about how much I am grateful for swim lessons....Last weekend, we went to two pool parties at some of our friends' houses. She did great on Friday night, no problems. On Saturday night, Caroline fell in to the deep end. I was sitting on the ledge of the steps watching her play with a ten year old girl. Apparently, there was a ledge that went halfway around the pool and dropped off. It was dark in the pool (the lights hadn't been turned on) and she didn't know it ended, nor did I. I looked off to say something to Tim who was sitting on the deck, but I didn't. I quickly turned around because of the gut instinct of something was wrong. I looked up in time to see Caroline being pulled up by the ten year old girl. There was no way that she was under for a long time, probably a few seconds. But, when I got to her, I just reassured her that I was there and there was no problem. I didn't want her to freak out. I also told her that was why we take swim lessons to prepare for things like this. She nodded and didn't seem to scared, even though her heart was rapidly beating. The cool thing is that she 'kicked up'. She knew what to do! So, if you are around pools/water...get your kids in swim lessons ASAP! It helped save her life!

Caroline and Miss Sarah doing a belly float on Day 1
This picture shows how small she is compared to the other swimmers.
Caroline doing her backfloat by herself
My cutie!
I love this pose...check out the bent knee!
Practicing her kicks with Miss Sarah
You can barely see her head over the side of the pool...so small!
Pulling herself up to give me a big smile!

1 comment:

Leah Maya Benjamin said...

I love it! I am such an awful swimmer that I wanted Maya to take swim lessons. Joe is a great swimmer. Last year I had to be in the pool with her per their age thing (which was fine I wasn't going anywhere) but it was too cold for me. Now we might have some spring weather next week even thoguh its summer, sooooooo it would have to get much warmer before we go into a big pool, or at least alot warmer for me.