Swim Lessons

I mentioned in my Florida post that Jack had a swimming breakthrough while we were there.  I decided to try to keep the momentum going by signing the boys up for swim lessons, and I am glad I did.  We just did a two-week session through the City, so there were 8 35-minute sessions in total.

Jack loved his instructor and got braver and braver with each class.  By the end he was retrieving dive rings from the bottom of the pool.  Amazing considering last summer a splashed face had him immediately out of the pool looking for a towel.

Charlie enjoyed his lessons too.  His teacher wasn't overly friendly, but he didn't seem to notice.  His class was less challenging, but I think it helped him respect the pool a little more (he was a little too brave for my comfort before).

Some videos:

On the last night of the session, it was pouring rain so not many kids showed up.  Jack was the only one in his class that night so he got lots of attention.  They went to the deep end and practiced treading water, and then he practiced swimming all the way from one end of the pool to the other.  I was very proud!

We followed up that session with another session in July.  No new breakthroughs, but just solidified the skills they had already been working on.

Jack swimming underwater:

Charlie (notice he yells cannonball as he's jumping - silly guy!)

I'm so disappointed this one is blurry - Jack got up the nerve to go off the diving board!!!  He did a total belly flop, but it didn't bother him...

All in all, I'm glad we did the lessons, and we will definitely look into it again next summer!