Swimming Lessons

12-17

Like I mentioned before, Alanna has been taking swimming lessons this month, twice a week for the first three weeks of December. She has been doing really well and really loves going. No complaints, no hesitation, nothing. She's ready to learn! There are two four-year-old classes going on at the same time; one is a little more advanced than the other. Alanna is in the very beginner class with three other kids. The other class has only two kids, so sometimes the teachers combine and have three kids a piece. It's a great ration. Alanna's teacher, Charmaine, is super sweet. Charmaine knew a whole boatload of information about our family after just the first lesson; Hattie's arrival, big brother Charlie, and little sister Molly were just a few of the topics that Alanna was chatting about during lessons. It's so funny and interesting to see what comes up in conversation between my kids and other adults! (Side story: My friend Brittany volunteers in Charlie's classroom once a week since her daughter Audrey is in the same class. One day while she was talking to Charlie, she said that at the end of the conversation that Charlie said, "Hattie's doing really good, too." But Brittany hadn't even asked about Hattie! Apparently Charlie thought she should have asked about Hattie. At any rate, he offered up that she was doing fine. :)

But back to this pink ruffly girl....

The little girls and I watch Alanna's lesson from the observation area. After a few lessons, I asked Alanna to try jumping into the water without holding onto Charmaine's hand. The next lesson, she did it! She was so proud of herself, biting back a smile from the backseat of the van while she told me her news. I love that look - the one of I did it! She did report that one time she sunk to the bottom but her teacher pulled her up. YIKES. I happened to be out in the lobby during that lesson, but Alanna said that she didn't touch the bottom and that her teacher helped her to the wall. I think what happened is that Charmaine gave her a push to swim to the wall and Alanna didn't quite make it to the wall on her own without dipping below the water and getting another push or help from her teacher. I'm totally confident that she wasn't under water for any length of time - or even more than 2 seconds - but being that it's a new thing for Alanna, it probably felt like a long time. Clearly it wasn't a scarring episode or anything.

I took these pictures on the last day. Typically it's a boat safety/water safety day for the last day of the session, but this time the teachers opted for a fun day. Alanna was thrilled!