In the Swim

For the last two weeks, Sarah and I have been taking Parent-Toddler classes at the town pool.  The good part is that they're free; the not-so-good part is that you get what you pay for in terms of instruction.  We had a different college-age lifeguard leading the class each day, only one of which actually got into the pool with us.  My favorite was the guy hiding behind oversized Ray-bans who busied himself with some important paperwork on a clipboard the entire half-hour and failed to tell us that the last day of class had been cancelled due to the annual Catfish Days festival in town.

At any rate, it was a great opportunity for Sarah to experience a large pool for the first time.  For the first few days, she wrapped her legs around me with an iron grip and clutched a plastic Nemo fish toy for security.  On the fourth day, the collegian-on-duty was engaged enough to suggest we try the wading pool to see if the kids would be more comfortable (we had gone from four participants to two by that point).  Sarah was much happier there, although she was still cautious.

On Wednesday, we went back to the adult pool, and she started to loosen up.  By the next day, she was kicking her legs, blowing bubbles, and leaning back moving her arms under water, while entrusting me with Nemo.  She even tried to talk herself into scooting off the side of the pool into my arms, but she couldn't quite muster the gumption.  I had high hopes for our last day on Friday, but, as noted above, we arrived to find the gates closed.

We're heading to Cincinnati in a couple of weeks for a reunion of the families in our China travel group.  I'm eager to get her into the pool again and glad she had an opportunity to work through some of her fears beforehand.  In the meantime, we'll practice in the plastic wading pool at home.  Whenever we mention "pool," she goes through all the motions for kicking, putting her head back, and blowing bubbles.

Here are some shots that Dad took on her last day: