We started the whirlwind of swimming lessons on Wednesday. Since our first-choice class at 5:30 was cancelled we have a bit more time and don’t have to be there until 6:00. The change meant Reid had time to eat her plate of leftovers and I had time for a slice of bread with peanut butter on it. Reid, though, had other ideas. She wanted a “big bread” of her own, none of this have-a-corner-of-Mama’s stuff I usually do. And she needed to use the knife herself to put peanut butter on it. Then, she ignored the plate I’d lovingly reheated and ate her bread.
Our instructor’s name is Mike but he said people call him “Monkey”. I wouldn’t confess to that but I’m not a teenage boy. He is a really good teacher. He told us what to do and then what the kids would get out of it (Seems obvious and I bet George does that, too, but we generally have friendly people who lead the class but aren’t really “teachers”). we were in the wave pool section of the comples which means there was a nice long, slow slope that we could walk out on which gave Reid lots of confidence. Mid-way through the lesson she asked to go to the “nother waterpark” and pointed to the smaller pool. Unfortunately for her we weren’t at Great Wolf Lodge and had to do what the teacher said. She is kicking her legs pretty consistently when she swims but she doesn’t move her hands. It’s been so long since I took Suli, etc. for lessons that I don’t remember when to expect her to start. Reid jumped into the pool from a seated position a few times but the water is so deep that I didn’t ask her to try any jumps while standing since I can barely reach her hands when she sits. We’ll have to see whether she’ll get brave enough to try without my hands or maybe Mike will have a different plan. We finished up at the slide in the hot pool (or at least it’s hotter). The slide is set in the middle of water that is knee-high to Reid and so she can go up and down on her own, though I stay real close. I think the biggest lesson that the kids will learn may be how to take turns on the slide. Reid is familiar with lining up from daycare but she lets other people barge in front of her. I mostly hang back but did intervene after the third boy (yes, BOY!) cut in and held my arm out to let Reid climb the slide. As I did, that little guy’s mom was also correcting him and so maybe the other ruffians were from the pre-school class that swims without their parents.
Daddy watched from the deck which made Reid happy – she would have liked him to swim with us but since he couldn’t, she liked him being there. He forgot to leave his socks at home, though, and ended up with wet feet while getting Reid dressed. I was dry and dressed so fast by myself! All those times I’ve envied other women who have handed their kids over to someone else and then *I* was them. The glory of it ;+)