Fimming!

The boys love "fimming" in their "fim twunks" and RitaBa signed them up for swimming lessons that they started today! Kieran's lesson was at 9:15 this morning...and he woke up in a clingy, whiny mood. ugh. Sure enough, he wanted me and Connery to sit beside him; he wanted me to do the stretches instead of him; he wanted us to get in the pool with him. But when the lifeguard Krista reached out for his hand, and said, "Come on, I'll get in with you," he was all in! He got out one time, but he went back when he realized that another boy was "trying to sit on my 3 spot"--that's when I realized he sat in front of the "3ft." on purpose. He IS 3, after all!

I was impressed by everything the teachers had him do:
hold onto the side and kick
kick while a lifeguard walked through the water with him
arm strokes while a lifeguard held him
"swimming" from one guard to the other (The video is below.)
jumping off the side of the pool into the lifeguard's arms! (Kieran was the first one to do this, and then he stood in line and did it again!)
and the grand finale...jumping off the diving board down to a lifeguard! (Or being lowered down...)

He really enjoyed it and is eager to go back tomorrow.

Connery's lesson was tonight and is set up as an IPAP (Infant something or other) class where a parent is in the water with them. I think it's set up to get the kids comfortable in the water, so we pretty much played like we usually do in the pool. But he wasn't wearing swimmies at all, and he put his face in a little more than he usually does. He tried to blow bubbles, but I don't think he understood what to do. He made the raspberry sound with his lips, but when he got close to the water, he opened his mouth like he was trying to get the water in his mouth. ?? Don't know what he was thinking. But it was cute, of course.

The biggest accomplishment was that he ALMOST floated on his back (while still resting in my arms). It's a real trust exercise, and he wasn't too sure about it. But he didn't cry. After about 30 or 45 seconds, he just said, "Ah Dohn, Mommy, Ah Dohn."

We've got 5 more lessons, and I hope they all go this smoothly. I'll report back.

Here is a video of Kieran's and a picture from Connery's.




More videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51LSY5Rlj2E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrMRZjTJe2g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz9S_dIFO0Y