This summer’s swim lessons took up a good chunk of the month of June, although that wasn’t our original plan. Back in March, I signed Brooklyn and Savannah up for separate classes in session 2 (June 3rd-14th). We felt like Savannah could use an additional session of beginner classes, but that Brooklyn was ready for the next level up (beginner strokes). The plan was for the girls to take their lessons back-to-back at 9:15 AM and 10:30 AM every weekday for those 2 weeks.
Then Brooklyn broke her arm in early May, and that plan went out the window.
Swim lessons are expensive, and we didn’t want to pay that much money if Brooklyn wouldn’t be able to do everything that the other kids in the class were doing. Session 2 started about a month after her injury. By that point, she was allowed to swim but not jump into the pool yet. Travis and I decided that it would be better to just let her skip lessons this year and try again next year. (Ashleigh’s sessions book up really fast, so waiting later in the summer wasn’t an option). So, we ended up having just Savannah do swim lessons in session 2. Brooklyn was bummed, but she handled it better than I thought she would overall. We were hoping that Savannah would be able to take lessons with Luke and Barrett, but that didn’t work out, so Savannah didn’t know any of the kids in her class this year. I was disappointed about that and a little nervous going in about how Savannah would do without any friends in the class…
Day #1 was on Monday, June 3rd!
Even though this was Savannah’s 3rd year of swim lessons, she still cried during most of her turns on the first day. I think she swallowed water when she left her mouth open and it made her upset. I wasn’t that surprised that she cried (there were several other kids crying too), but I was just hoping it wouldn’t last the whole two weeks!
Floating at the end of the lesson was a good way to relax :)
Day #2 went much better (because I bribed her with a Frosty from Wendy’s if she didn’t cry the whole lesson…haha).
Savannah did great! Instead of jumping, she kind of does a belly flop/dive into the water this year ;) She said her favorite part of the day was floating and flipping over to swim back to the steps :)
My two little sidekicks were there to watch everything with me!
So proud of our brave girl!
Everyone enjoyed their Frosty that afternoon! Abigail shared one with me and couldn’t get enough :)
Day #3 – Wednesday, June 5th
Savannah had another good day!
My main challenge during Savannah’s lessons was keeping Abigail happy and occupied. Normally, she and Brooklyn ate a snack right when we got there, and I tried to pack plenty of books and notebooks/crayons to entertain them for the rest of the time. Some days went more smoothly than others!
Savannah said her favorite part of day #3 was jumping off the diving board! :)
Day #4 was Thursday, June 6th. It rained the entire time we were there, so I stayed with Abigail on the screened-in porch.
Savannah had another great day, even with the rain. She jumped off the diving board and swam to the ladder without any help from Ms. Ashleigh. They also started fall-in practice today.
I have been really proud of Brooklyn this week, but especially today. She stood out in the rain for part of the time, held Savannah’s towel during her turn, and helped her wrap up in it after after her turn was over. Definitely a sweet big sister thing to do!
Day #5 was on Friday, June 7th. No rain today! Savannah is doing so well with her kicks. She can move pretty fast through the water! She holds her arms straight out in front of her the whole time she is swimming :)
“How many more days do we have to come here??”
Day #6 – Monday, June 10th
Practicing how to climb out from the side of the pool is an important skill!
Savannah had another great day! You would never guess she was crying on the first day based on how well she is doing at this point.
Day #7 – Tuesday, June 11th
It wasn’t very warm today, so the pool was COLD! Ashleigh had all the kids sit in the water on the steps to try to stay warm rather than shivering on the side. Savannah did well despite the cold water.
Ashleigh says Savannah has great form and is so fast moving through the water! She tried getting Savannah to start using her arms today, but I think she isn’t quite coordinated enough for that (she was just barely 4 years old at this point, after all). Maybe next summer!
Day #8 – Wednesday, June 12th
I can always count on Brooklyn to make friends with other kids she doesn’t know ;) This time, it was the two older brothers of one of the boys in the class. They were sweet to allow her to play with them…
Savannah cracked me up at her “ready” position” when she jumped into the pool. She had her hands together before she even got to the water :)
So proud of this girl! She even jumped off the diving board and swam all the way to Ashleigh who was standing in the shallow end without ever coming up to take a breath!
In past years, Savannah has never been a big fan of floating, but this year she did much better at just laying back and relaxing.
Day #9 – Thursday, June 13th
This ended up being the last class for Savannah’s session. Ashleigh had stretched out some of the previous lessons by 10-15 extra minutes because she was worried about storms possibly messing up some of the days, but the weather ended up being fine. So the kids got all their instruction time squeezed into 9 classes basically. I wasn’t that sad to not have to come back on Friday…it’s a lot of work getting 3 kids up and ready for swim lessons every morning for 2 straight weeks!
Savannah did really well on her last day! Ashleigh says that Savannah will be fine just doing the 4-day refresher course next year. She doesn’t think she’ll be ready for Beginner Strokes (the next level up), but the refresher class will be all she needs. Overall, I was so proud of how Savannah did this year! I think Savannah depends on having Brooklyn with her since that’s usually how it is with most activities we do, but I was proud of her for doing swim lessons all by herself this year! Savannah listened to directions really well and was VERY concerned about making sure she was in the right place for her next turn (constantly asking me “Mommy, where should I go now?”). She is definitely a rule follower who is always wanting to please the teacher, but needs extra reassurance that she is doing the right thing. She has made huge strides since last summer in conquering her fears of the water and how well she is swimming.
So, after Savannah’s last day, I thought we were done with swim lessons for the summer, but that turned out to not be the case. Alisha texted me a week and a half later asking if we would want to use one of their spots in the session 3 beginner class that they were in because Luke and Barrett weren’t going to finish the lessons this summer. It sounded like they just weren’t quite ready. Carter was going to take one of their spots, and Alisha wondered if Brooklyn might want the other spot.
By this point, Brooklyn had been back to see Dr. Lawley and had technically been cleared to jump in the pool and would be able to fully participate in the class. I knew she didn’t really NEED another beginner swim class, but I thought it couldn’t hurt to have a few days of refreshing. (There were only 4 classes left in session 3 anyway). I assumed Brooklyn would be thrilled to get to do swim lessons after all even though it wasn’t the Strokes class that we’d signed her up for originally, and I was right. She was really excited when I told her about it. So back we went for 4 more days of lessons…
Day #1 – Tuesday, June 25th
Brooklyn couldn’t wait to get there this morning! She had a blast and loved doing all the activities. As a mom, it was interesting to contrast Brooklyn during swim class to Savannah a couple of weeks prior. Brooklyn was so busy socializing with the other kids when it wasn’t her turn. Didn’t matter one bit that the other kids in class had been together for 6 days before Brooklyn showed up. Savannah just stood in line quietly and waited during her lessons and hardly spoke to any of the kids. Brooklyn was looking for bugs and being silly the whole hour (and sometimes not listening to directions…not surprising!). Some of that may be that Brooklyn felt so comfortable with what they were doing in class…it wasn’t too much of a challenge this year, and she wasn’t afraid at all. But I think it’s also the fact that they are two totally different children!
Brooklyn had a great time and couldn’t wait to come back the next day!
Day #2 – Wednesday, June 26th
Brooklyn had a blast today too. She is doing pretty well trying to use her arms and legs at the same time to swim. She jumped off the diving board with a running start and tried a “sitting dive” for the first time ever :)
Savannah and Abigail enjoyed having Luke and Barrett there to play with during the lessons!
Day #3 – Thursday, June 27th
Savannah was teaching Barrett about the Berenstain Bears while Brooklyn was swimming :)
Brooklyn had another good day at swim lessons! She did a good job paying attention to directions and said she had lots of fun!
There were quite a few little ones there during the lessons, so Abigail had fun exploring Ashleigh’s yard with them (when she wasn’t throwing fits, getting too close to the pool, and trying to climb onto the diving board…ha). She definitely made swim lessons a challenge for me this summer!
Day #4 – Friday, June 28th
Brooklyn enjoyed practicing her cannonball jump this week :) She had so much fun, and I love how you can see her personality in the way she jumps into the water. No worries…just out there to socialize and have fun!
So we survived almost 3 full weeks of swim lessons crammed into a month’s time. Whew! It was a lot, but I’m glad we did it. Savannah made so much progress during her lessons, and it was good for Brooklyn to practice her skills for a few days. We’ll see what next summer holds…maybe Abigail will even start lessons. Now that’s a scary thought! :)
