S W I M

When Charlotte was a wee one she & I did the swim & splash, sing & laugh mommy & me swim class.  It was fun.  Which is what I wanted.  Fun in the pool. Charlotte enjoyed sloshing around and chasing squirt toys.  She was always comfortable in the water.  I read about Infant Swim Rescue (ISR) and saw youtube videos of babies falling in the pool and saving themselves.  Amazing.  Intense.  I called an instructor.  She discerned, just from talking to me on the telephone, that I would not be okay with witnessing the lessons of ISR.  "This is no joke", she told me, "these are life-saving skills, there is no splashing and singing".  Nervous laughter from me. 

We just sang and splashed. I was diligent and neurotic around pools.  Because a child can drown in two minutes of unsupervision.

Floats.  Floats.  Floats. 

And Charlotte loved the water.  Then I found the bathing suit with the built in inner-tube (thank you Kmart). 

This summer...Charlotte outgrew it.  That's how we knew it was time.  Thought we'd pass it down to Ruby.  She's so aggressive in the water, she topples herself over and is upside-down in it.  Roo wants to swim.  Not in a float, really in the water, but when she does - she sinks and when you hold her, she hits you. 

We signed Charly up for group swim lessons at Chattahoochee Scuba.  She had her evaluation and they placed her, quite appropriately, in the pre-school group swim.  Qualifications?  Comfortable in the water, blowing bubbles, floating...Meanwhile, while Charlotte's qualifying around in the water, Ruby is having an all out hissy fit to get away from me and into the water with Charlotte. 

Adam had a great idea: sign Charlotte up for a time slot with a simultaneous parent-child class so Ruby can learn to swim too!  We were sure Roo would be diving by the end or at least doing those cool ISR underwater rolls... 

Class 1:  Chaos.  Three classes in the pool, two private lessons.  Charlotte heads off with her class, Ruby gets into the pool with Adam.  Immediately upset because she isn't with her sister.  And, never the rule-follower, she doesn't want to do what the instructor is instructing, she wants to do what she wants to do.  Mommy is watching from the air-conditioned observation room because the indoor pool room is just too crazy-hot if you aren't in the pool, sauna hot...relief-to-go-outside-hot.
Ten minutes later:  miscommunication between Adam and the teacher: Ruby is dropped and she sinks.  The teacher pulls her out of the water and it's all over.  She screams and throws punches for the next 20 minutes.  Adam eventually gives up, gets out and tries to calm her down.  No use.  By the end of Charlotte's class, Ruby is sitting next to me with her feet in the pool (success, I think)  then, 'tomorrow is another day, she'll be back, she'll be happy'. 

Didn't happen.  We didn't even make three minutes of class and she was hyperventilating.  The teacher says she thinks having her in the water in the class setting is doing more harm than good.  She suggests we pull her out. 

By day 4?  Ruby won't even go into the pool room to watch Charlotte swim. 

Charlotte's teacher is a young guy, who compliments her tutu/princess/ultra "girlie" bathing suit at the beginning of class each day and holds her hand.  Coach walks a tight line.  He pushes her, without over-pushing her.  She trusts him.  When Charly first started she didn't want to be splashed and she didn't want to go under and she didn't want to swim without "holding" on.  Now she goes under happily and loves holding on to the edge of the pool and kicking with all her might (still bending those knees though).  Jumping-in is still a little daunting.  Charly's the only one in the class that is still apprehensive about jumping in.  A couple of the kids run, jump and swim underwater all the way to the steps.  Charlotte is the only one that needs to hold hands as she jumps in.  But by Thursday last week, she was excited to hold only one of her Coach's hands, with her nose in the other hand, as oppossed to the first night when she insisted on sitting down before splashing in. 
Charlotte is so proud of herself.  This has been HUGE for her self-esteem.  Because swimming was something that excited her but filled her with anxiety at the same time.  Overcoming this fear, going underwater, again and again, jumping in, splashing, she feels really good about it. 

Now we've just got to make it fun for Ruby.

Ruby learned something in that one swim class though.  Because on Friday when we headed to mom  & dad's to swim she followed Charlotte right down the steps and into the pool.  Mom was sweeping, dad was in the pool testing the water and I ran down to the pool shed for a float (to help make swimming more "fun!").  Ever diligent, made it back up to the pool in time to see Ruby follow Charlotte off the steps and into deep water.  I saw her treading, I started shouting at daddy, 'Ruby!  Ruby!  GET RUBY!' and then she sunk.  Popi saw her sink and pulled her out.  She was alright.  Excited to be back above water and she was looking for Charshe - who was swimming around, oblivious to the excitement...lots of kicking going on.

Ever diligent.  I have nightmares about pools and little ones.  Because if you let yourself think about it?  It's terrifying.  I hold tight to the belief that I have control over everything.  If I do everything just right...everyone will always be safe & well.  (It's my fantasty and I'm holding to it.)

Charlotte discovered goggles and the miracle of seeing underwater.  Then it was over and over and over again and she was so proud.  And she jumped into Adam's arms into the pool twice.  Success.  And Ruby had fun in the water.

This week starts "Princess Camp" at the dance studio.  Oh, the fun.  Every morning we dress up like a princess, well, I don't...  I put Ruby in her Snow White dress this morning.  She started shouting "off!  off!  too tight!!!"  before I even had it velcroed.  Then she ran to get her kitty cat costume.  That was embarrassing while we were out running errands after dropping off big sis.

And, yes, we're still swimming.  We're hoping that by the end of the summer, Charlotte is jumping in and swimming, head down, to the steps.  But you know what - as long as she has fun - we're happy...and diligent.