Swimming

We took the girls to their first swimming lesson on Monday and Emily did great. She had no problem going in (even though the water was kind of cold) and she had a blast. She did great on her front and on her back. She of course loved the songs and swimming to get the fish. The only thing she wasn't sure about was the jumping in. She jumps so much better than last year and jumps off everything at home but wouldn't jump into the pool. She wouldn't mind if pull her in but she wouldn't jump. It was only the first class so now we have something to work on. After Emily went it was Stephanie's turn. We are going through New Berlin rec because I looked everywhere for a parent child class for Stephanie's age. They have one for 4, 5, 6 year olds and I thought that would be perfect. I knew it would be a battle but it was worse than previous years. This year I could tell she was overstimulated in the locker room and didn't even want to get out to the pool. Then she couldn't watch Emily swim and wanted to leave. When it was her turn she did go sit by the side of the pool and put her toes in. But didn't want to get in at all. Jeff was able to pull her in but that lasted for a minute and she was hitting and trying to bite. The she got out and I went over and I tried the same thing. She again only got in for a minute and I could tell she wasn't going to calm down and it wasn't safe so we left. It took her awhile to calm down in the locker room but when we would talk about it she said she would try again next week. So now I am thinking that we need to find a pool to go to for open swim and slowly get her use to it. So we did that yesterday. We went to a pool that was outside that had a wading pool and a regular pool. My goal was just to get her in the wading pool yesterday. When she saw them she said "no" right away but I was able to get them both out to the pool. She put her feet in and splashed right away but wouldn't walk in it and I wasn't pushing her. She was getting herself wet by pouring water on her head. Within 10 minutes she got up from the side of the pool and walked in. Great!! Then after playing there for awhile and going to the bathroom they wanted to go in the big pool. It has stairs so I thought if I could have her sit on the stairs that would be good. She loved going on the stairs and didn't want to be carried in the pool but that was okay. She was getting more comfortable and I wasn't going to push it. She loved watching the other kid playing and jumping in the pool. We are going back tonight if it's not storming and hopefully everyday til our next swimming lesson on Monday. Way to go girls!