Swim Lessons

We are doing swimming lessons again this year. I was anxious about them at first because we haven't swam since last summer. Last summer, Ezra learned how to swim, at age 3, and was so good at it. He loved it, so we went swimming all the time and he could practice. But it had been a while, so I didn't know how this was going to go. Another thing I was anxious about was Emersyn. We enrolled her in swim lessons this year too. It is her first time to ever take swim lessons. She is such a hit or miss kinda girl, so you never really know how everything is going to go until you do it.
So, Thursday comes, first day of swim lessons. I was excited, Ezra was excited and Emersyn was excited, initially! We start getting our swimsuits on and Emersyn decided she does not like how her swimsuit feels, so she won't even put a swimsuit on! I mean, it's kinda the key item for swim lessons. I thought to myself, "let's not fight it. She can put it on when she gets there and sees the other kids in the pool." We get loaded in the car and go. I was really hoping Ezra's lesson would be first so she could see him do it, then be excited about hers, but it did not work out that way.
When we got to the pool, there were two little girls and one boy there waiting for swim lessons. I asked Emersyn if she wanted to put her swimsuit on and get in the pool. She said, "No." I let her sit there for a little bit while the other kids got in and started the lessons. I asked a second time if she was ready to put her swimsuit on. This time, she said, "yes." We go to the bathroom, put it on, and she starts crying that she doesn't like it and doesn't want it on. I make her keep it on and take her back out to the pool. She is STILL CRYING! Ha! I hand her over to Brent, who, thankfully, was able to go with me to this lesson! He takes her and talks to her. She still is crying and wanting to take her swimsuit off. So, Brent goes the bathroom with her and helps her take her swimsuit off. They come out, and I am thinking, I am going to have to cancel her lessons if she won't even put the swimsuit on! I get out my phone to cancel her lessons, because you only have 48 hours after the 1st lesson to cancel and get your money back. I look at her, with phone in hand, and tell her, "Emersyn, I am going to cancel your swim class. You won't be able to come back here and swim. Do you want me to do that?" She started crying, again, saying, "don't cancel it. don't cancel it." I looked at her one more time and said, "okay, you need to go put your swimsuit on." She agreed to go put her swimsuit back on. We got it on with no crying and I walked her to the steps where her teacher was. Her teacher took her hand, put her goggles on her and had her get in the water to practice blowing bubbles. She hasn't looked back since! She was a little nervous the first two lessons, but has gotten so much more comfortable with the water. Now, she doesn't want the practice to end when it's over. Oh, sweet Emersyn. How it has to be your idea, but when it is, you do such a great job at whatever you put your mind to. I am so proud of you!

Ezra is also doing a great job. It took only 1 lesson to get back into the groove of things. He is in an intermediate class with 5-7 year olds. He has done great! He even won the only swim contest they had in his class. As his prize, he was the only one who got to jump in the pool at the end of class. His teacher came up to me the last time and complemented him and his swimming abilities. I am so proud of that little boy! We are going to try out our neighborhood swim team this year and see how it goes. Not sure if he will like it, or even be able to do it, but I thought we would try and he is pretty excited about it!

It has been a good round of swim lessons, and I am thankful for that. (pictures of Ezra to come..)

Blowing bubbles