Swim lessons

Starting in the middle of June Vincent took his first month of swim lessons ever!  He mostly liked the lessons other than the part where the water was cold and you have to swim.  At he didn't really want to have to put his face in the water, he preferred to swim without every getting water on his face.  He did a great job and appeared to listen to his teacher, but he seemed to be progressing rather slowly.  So in the middle of week 2 (out of 4 weeks) I offered him a coin for each day of swim lessons when he is good and doesn’t complain and 5 coins for passing a level.  Suddenly he seemed very motivated to go in the water and put his face in the water when his teacher told him to.  Call it extra motivation or bribery, either way Vincent and I were much happier about swim lessons now.  Which is good because we signed up for 4 weeks worth!

During swim lessons Joel, Cecilia and I watched from the balcony.  The first day Joel complained that he wanted to swim and was not happy he couldn’t go swimming.  He loves the water and would try to run to jump in the pool!  I told him no swimming until he was potty trained, maybe that will give him some extra motivation.  About half of the time I was fortunate to find Joel something else to do or have Grandma Diane, Brad and Amy watch him so we don’t have to torture him with watching swim lessons.  Cecilia enjoyed going and liked watching the older kids swim laps and dive off the diving board and so did I!  Sometimes it is hard to watch Vincent swimming because my eyes always drift toward watching diving. 

Vincent and one of his instructors

Sometime in the middle of the second week of lessons I bought Vincent goggles and suddenly he was excited to put his face in the water.  Which paid off because at the end of the 2nd week he passed level 1!  We were all very excited!  As soon as he passed he looked at me in the balcony and held up 5 fingers, because he was reminding me he got 5 coins for passing.  He spent the last 2 weeks of swimming lessons making friends, and learning what he needed to know to pass level 2.  We have a lot of work to do outside of class before he is ready to pass level 2.  

I am glad we took the time to have 1 month of swimming lessons and we might do them again this winter or next summer.  However, I was really glad when swimming lessons were over and we didn't have to wake up early every day of the week!  It is summer after all and even though my kids never sleep in we still enjoy not having to get dressed and out of the house first thing in the morning.