Our Little Fish

We tried to teach Abby some swim lessons ourselves last year and she was not at all receptive. She specifically didn't like putting her face under water. We despared that she would never learn water safety or that there was water beyond the shallow end. The start of this summer didn't look any more promising. Abby could put her face in the water but only with goggles on. She still refused to truly practice any of the swimming techniques we showed her.

So Lee signed her up for swimming lessons. Located locally at a large public pool, the classes were fairly cheap. So we enrolled her in a 2 week course as a Minnow. She excelled. Now, I don't mean to say she did a great job and enjoyed the experience. No, she turned into a fish over night. After swimming, she would come home and hop in the pool again. To practice. Again and again. She started to really swim and we were her cheerleaders. Her confidence was boosted hugely. It was amazing to watch the transformation.

It got to the point where her skin started to suffer from all the pool time. She got a rash and her skin felt like sandpaper. I put my foot down and made her take a 3 day break from the pool. I also insisted she put lotion on each night before bed. Poor kid hates it.

By the way, swim lessons are not what they use to be. Each stroke has its own "kid name" now. Things were called "Cookie Arms," "Pizza Arms" and "Pancake Flip." Now who doesn't want to learn those moves?? Lee said when they had a safety class it was more like a comedy routine. The kids loved it and so did Lee.

The best part was when Grammy had her come over for a visit. Abby got to swim in her pool and show off her skills. Grammy and Uncle Mike were astounded. Especially when Abby demonstrated her "Can Opener" dive. Abby even made up her own dive. Wow!