Swim Class

On Saturday Dwayne and I took Noelle to her first swim class at the YMCA.  He watched from the viewing area for parents, and I took her in. 

I thought that Noelle would be intimidated by this gigantic room and all the noise but I was wrong. She watched the pool carefully as I checked us into the class, and as soon as her little brain had put it together that this massive square had water in it, she couldn't wait to get out of my arms. She wriggled and pushed, begging me to let her down.

Eventually, I had to put her down to slip off my pants. Immediately she darted toward the pool. She was fearless! All she wanted was to get in the water. And once we were in the water, all she wanted was for me to let her go. I couldn't believe just how adventuresome she was. While other kids were crying miserably as their parents waded around, Noelle was putting her face down into the water to lick it up.

Soon the instruction started, and the swim coach showed us three maneuvers to begin helping our little ones swim. "I don't care if they cry," she said. "I'm more concerned that they learn how to save themselves if they fall into the water."

One of the techniques was to turn Noelle over on her back, let go of her body but hold her head. This was to teach her how to float. "Floating is all with the head," the coach said, "not in the body like you think. So let's teach them right from the start." She took a little girl, laid her on her back, took her head and began gently pulling her through the water. The little girl laid absolutely still, staring up at the ceiling.

So I tried it with Noelle. I turned her over and tried to let her go, but she immediately rolled over and tried to swim on her own. I grabbed her, and tried again, this time getting ahold of her head before she could sink away from me. She twisted and turned in the water, fighting every minute of it. She wasn't upset. She was simply determined. The coach came to help. "It just means she's a little bit stubborn," the coach said matter-of-factly. "It's okay."

"That explains alot!" I thought.

By far Noelle's favorite exercise was going under the water. Now, she has no idea how to hold her breath as I've come to witness when giving her a bath, but the coach insisted that we take the kids underwater. "Hold them facing you," she said. "Count to three then blow in their face." By blowing in Noelle's face I was making her catch her breath, at which point I was supposed to submerge her.

All across our corner of our pool babies started howling as parents systematically submerged them. They came up coughing and spluttering and madder than an hornet. Noelle? She came up spluttering, but mostly just thrilled to the bone. Consistently she came up squealing with delight.

She was so pretty, with her bright blue eyes, the water running over her face, and utterly at home in the water. I fell in love with her all over again!

"You are one tough baby!" I said and gave her a high five. Through out the entire lesson, I couldn't get over just how comfortable she was in the pool. She loved it and I can't wait to see how she does at the next class.

By the next class the coach says the babies will be swimming!