Swimming

Henry has been going to swimming lessons every Tuesday and Thursday for the past three weeks. He's been in swimming lessons before, but not since he was a baby. When he had lessons two years ago, I had to be in the water holding him the whole time. Now he's old enough to be in the water alone. That was scary for both of us at first!
We have a swimming pool just about a block from our house, so it's very convenient. Our swimming pool has a viewing balcony, and the parents have to drop their kids off in the pool and then go up and watch the lesson from the balcony. During Henry's first lesson, he cried the ENTIRE 30 minutes. That was extremely painful. During his second lesson, he cried for the first 10 minutes and then he was fine for the remaining 20 minutes. For Henry's third lesson, he seemed pretty happy and excited, and he didn't cry at all when I dropped him off at the pool and walked up to the viewing balcony to watch. The little kids stand on top of a special table that's placed in the shallow end so that the water is only waist high. While Henry was waiting for his turn with the teacher, he kept looking up at me and waving and bouncing around excitedly. As I watched him and chatted with some of the other parents, all of a sudden I saw his little blond head disappear under the water. He had bounced right off of the table into water that was over his head. By the time I stood up to scream at the lifeguard (who stands DIRECTLY behind them), he had already pulled Henry up and out of the water. Henry coughed a little bit, but after about 30 seconds, he was back in the water swimming. I was so proud of him, and so thankful that the lifeguard was on top of things.

Even after Henry's rescue adventure, he has been great in the pool. He doesn't like it when the teacher dunks his head underwater, but other than that, he's o.k. I think I'll keep Henry in lessons throughout the year, and hopefully soon he'll be a swimmer!