Our Littlest Fish

It's official! Will has finished year 1 of his swimming lessons! It's sort of funny to me that it is the second week of June and we are already done with lessons for one of the kids. Gotta love living in Florida. =) (Aside: Kenzie will finish out this week and then have a few more lessons in mid-July. Our swim teacher is taking about a month off to celebrate some big birthdays with her family so we will resume Kenzie's lessons when she returns.)

Anyway, Will is now officially a graduate of his first year of Red Cross Lessons. He only did the 10 this year that our amazing swim teacher gifted to him but I am so grateful that she did that. He did so well. We initially were holding off not only for monetary reasons but also because we were worried about how he would take to it. Will is overly attached to me (but not as bad as it was a few months ago) but we also had visions of Kenzie last year not always enjoying it.

Watching Sissy's Lesson and waiting for Will's to start

For 10 lessons, Will cried. However, as the lessons went on, his tears were less frequent and less intense. We have decided at this point that his tears are less related to a fear of the water or him being unsure about what is going on and more about removing him from being near me. At his first few lessons, he did nothing. He would just sort of float on the water and had to be guided to do everything. Now, he is able to kick his legs. He uses his arms some and he can hold onto the side of the pool and "walk" with his hands back to the stairs. He is helped to "jump" into the water from a sitting position and with minimal help, he can turn around and get back to the side. If you let him go towards a wall, he can get himself there by himself. He can float like no one's business. He is definitely a fish. He automatically holds his breath when he goes under water and can hold his breath for a pretty good amount of time. He is working on rolling from his belly to his back and can do it with minimal help.

Today's lesson was done in clothing as required by the Red Cross certification. He did swimmingly (see what I did there??) Warning if you watch these videos: Being in clothing set him off or something and his normal (quieter) crying was amplified. You might want to turn down your speakers. This kid has some lungs.

Being able to get Will lessons this year was truly a blessing. Ms. Shunda is an amazing instructor and we are so thankful for her. This type of lesson is definitely the most appropriate for our children and I am so glad that we not only enrolled Kenzie again, but that Will was able to partake. I think this has been a good experience for him. If for no other reason than he had to be with someone other than me for 20 minutes at a time. Haha! Will is going to be enrolled in at least 10 lessons next summer. Maybe 20 but we will assess his lessons next year when the time comes. For now, he has taken to the water like a fish and we are so proud of the progress he has made this summer.