From the moment we knew we were pregnant, I've been counting down till the day he was 6 months so I could enroll him in parent/child swim lessons! I was a water baby and swam on the swim team up through my senior year. I decided on lessons at the Y. They are known for their swim lessons and with even not being a member the price was reasonable for four classes over four weeks. Class was at 9:30 am on Saturday mornings.
This was Maxwell's second time in a pool. I had taken him to our neighborhood pool the weekend before. He really liked it and gave big smiles the whole time so I knew he'd enjoy swim lessons. We show up early so we can get him used to everything. The class had about 8 kids or so ranging from 6 months to 3 years. That was the one thing I didn't like about the class, I thought the age limit should have been 6 months to 18 months. The three year olds were just to rambunctious to be around 6 month olds in a pool! The lead teacher was great and infused lots of safety training in the activities.
Unfortunately, Maxwell came down with a fever the day before the first lesson so we had to miss the first week. The second week, he was feeling much better. We sang songs, played with toys, and interacted with other babies. For that lesson Mike stayed out of the pool and took pictures. He joined in on the next lesson, though. However, the lead teacher wasn't at this lesson and the other teacher was really awful. We sang one song and ended up staring at each other the rest of the time. She really needs to find another occupation. It was quite frustrating.
By the time the last lesson occurred, I realized that the time of lessons were inconvenient for Maxwell's schedule. He tended to take a nap around 9 am and class started at 9:30, which meant that I had to try to keep him up until class and then after class he would crash in the car on the way home. I had to go to his last class by myself because Mike had to work. Maxwell started to get sleepy at 8:45 so I knew we were in trouble. On the drive to the lesson I could see he was starting to fall asleep so I was trying to keep him awake by singing loudly. We get to class and we are early and Maxwell is already sucking his fingers. Thankfully the lead teacher is back so I figured the lessons activities would keep him awake. I was wrong, for most of the class he sucked his fingers and put his head on my shoulder. Then the teacher decided to use him as an example to show how to use the floaty belt with the babies. She was swinging him back and forth and his face dipped in the water a bit and that was it, he had a melt down. We were about five minutes away from the end of class so I decided that he had enough. I knew we were minutes away from him falling into a deep sleep and knew that I at least had to get him out of his swim water. We had already been scolded by the YMCA about changing Maxwell's diaper by the side of the pool but I knew I wouldn't be able to make it inside to the dressing room to change him before he fell asleep. So I had to do a stealth diaper change and just about made it until he fell asleep.
Overall, it was a fun experience but having missed one class and having one class with a bum of a teacher was disappointment. We definitely plan to enroll him in another class, however, it will need to be later in the morning for sure.
Since then we have swam many times at our pool and our friend's pool. Below are some fun pictures:
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| Swimming in the pool Nonna sent for his 6 mo. birthday present! |
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| Swimming in our friend Connie's pool! |
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