Summer Swimming

This was the first year the girls got to do swimming lessons. I heard about this great place called "Jackson Swimming Lessons"--a place in Spokane Valley where a family has been teaching swimming lessons in their backyard for sixty years. I called them and talked to "Grandma Sal" about the girls--about Claire who is our little mermaid already, and about Summer who is a little anxious in the water, who doesn't like to get her ears/eyes/face wet, and who can't even let water run over her face in the bathtub.

Grandma Sal listened, suggested putting the girls together in the beginners class, and reassured me that their main focus was on helping kids enjoy the water so that they could actually learn to swim without fearing the water.

We showed up the first day of the two-week session, and I watched as the kids each picked out an inner tube, spun circles like a merry-go-round, and then rode a bucking horse by jumping into the air in the water. These were their daily warmups to get their legs ready for kicking. Then they would practice kicking from one side to the other. Claire is in the front with the pink inner tube, Summer is the one with the bun in her hair. (They would do these laps four times--back and forth just kicking, back and forth with arms, back and forth blowing bubbles, and then on their backs back and forth.)

By the second week, they were doing laps the long way across the pool.

 (*Grandma Sal in the background)

 On their backs.

It was soooo fun to watch--all these little kids kicking as hard as they could and barely going anywhere. They looked like a whole bunch of ducklings.

At the end of each swim lesson, the kids were invited to jump off the diving board. Surprisingly, both Summer and Claire went. And they loved it. Here is Claire.

By the end of nine days of swimming, the girls were putting their faces (with open eyes) under the water! And swimming (kicking and reaching with their arms) without their inner tubes. I was so proud of them. The looks on their faces when they came up out of the water was so priceless. They were elated at their accomplishments.

Summer working on swimming without an inner tube.

 Claire working on it.

Summer

Claire

There were some days that they really did not want to go under the water. But they did it. I'm so glad we did swim lessons this summer. The skills they learned, and the confidence they gained from doing something hard, has totally been worth it. Great job, girls. I'm proud of you!

* On the way home from one of the lessons, Summer kept trying to figure out how to do "big arms" when she had little arms compared to Grandma Sal who had BIG arms.

* Another day, on the way home, Claire said, "I'm so proud of myself and happy inside because I was so brave."