Swimming Lessons

Last week I took Zachariah to swimming lessons. I know you all may have some questions, so I am going to try my best and answer them. One at a time now. Don't get too hasty.

Okay, here I go...

Who taught swim lessons? My oh-so-patient-friend Emily. I would not have trusted anyone else to teach Z at this age. She has four daughters, and she has taught all of them how to swim by the age of 2. (the fourth is still learning… but I think she will have it down by her 2nd bday.) Pretty impressive if you ask me.

Did Zachariah cry? Yes. Yes. A thousand times yes. But its not like he hates the water. He actually LOVES playing in a pool. I cant think of anything else he enjoys more in the summer time. Besides ice cream. He may enjoy that a bit more. But besides ice cream, he enjoys nothing more than splashing in a pool.

How did you feel about him crying? I am not going to lie, it did find it a bit annoying. There were absolutely NO tears. He was just being a butt so I just sat there and did one of two things. 1) reassured him that I was staying in the pool and not going to leave him, or 2) laugh. Sometimes you just gotta laugh at how ridiculous your child is acting.

Will you tell me a quick story? It would be my pleasure!

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who would be scream his head off during swimming lessons. His teacher, Emily, would count to three and put his head underwater. He would miraculously stop screaming (in order to hold his breath) RIGHT before he went under. Not a second sooner. He would come up, be okay with it all, then realize I wasn’t holding him. Then more screaming ensued. It cracked me up. The end.

Can he swim like a little fishy? Not yet. But we are getting closer! He gets better every time we go swimming.

What all did he learn? I did not expect Zachariah to be jumping off the diving board by the end of the week. He is just too young to understand/learn some of the concepts of swimming. He has learned the most basic and important things… how to kick and hold his breath. He still needs to work on doing those at the same time though. When he holds his breath to go under, he crosses his ankles. I have no idea why, but he does, and it makes me laugh. I have such a coordinated child. Needless to say, we will be working on that this summer. :)

Do you have pictures to document this occasion? Of course! I have been told by a certain swim teacher that she should not appear on the Internet in her swimsuit. So I have appropriately cropped her out. :)


The first day wore. him. out! As soon as we got home he plopped on the couch and vegged out with Elmo for a while. Cute little booger.

Here he is... crying and kicking his flippered feet. Despite his tears, he usually did what Emily told him to do.


Okay, here is what I was talking about. Here she was counting to three. He is still doing his screaming/crying thing. And right when you think he is going to get a mouthful of water....


Bam! He closes his mouth.


Note the crossed ankles as his head is going under...


Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming
What do we do we swim, swim, swim
OH HO HO How I love to swim
When you WAAAAAANNTTT to swim you want to swim

Sorry. I got a little distracted. Darn you Dori.


And finished. Whew! That was exhausting.


I am so glad we ended up doing this. Because of the swimming lessons, Zachariah no longer has fear of water in his face, and he is on his way to becoming a cute little swimmer! And Emily, thank you for being so patient with my dramatic little man! You are fabulous. :)