Week of Swim Lessons

Swim, Shane, swim!

With school out and the beach on the horizon, this week was the perfect time to get some swimming instruction in.

It was even better than planned. Almost no one else had the same idea. Shane got to be in a class of two!

Which turned out to be a good thing for the teacher. Shane went from under-confident to overconfident. 

Teacher: "Ok, I need you two to listen..."

Shane: "Watch me blow bubbles!"

Teacher: "Wai...."

Shane: "Bubububububu" 

Shane ducked his head under the water every chance he could get. Once while the teacher tried to pull him up to ask him something.

And if his head wasn't underwater, he was on the wander. I was on the edge of my seat. The teacher would try to do something with Lauren, the little girl, and ask Shane to stay on the steps. His head would duck under and his butt would float out to sea. Shane was very surprised whenever the steps disappeared out from under him.

After days of diving catches, the teacher, Shane, and I all realized he could touch the bottom with his tippy toes (3'6"). That was Wednesday. It got less stressful from there.

Except for the fact he started to bob even further. I talked to him about listening to the teacher, but the excitement of it all was too much.

He did really well whenever it was his turn. Look at how happy the stink was.

The skills are progressing. Shane knows to spread out on his back. The teacher introduced "Chicken-Airplane-Soldier" Tuesday.

We didn't work on it as much the rest of the week. It was more flutter kicks, staying long, and trying to work in the hands. Shane's good at doing it for the first few seconds. Then his attention wanes or runs out of breath. All skills go out the window.

He's definitely closer. If he would let go of his nose, he could use both hands and swim even farther!

My only regret: the class was from 2:30-3:00. Prime nap time. Shane didn't sleep all week. 

PS - A lesson learned about goggles:

I bought a pack of 5 goggles for $6 from Big Lots. "Why do I have to buy so many at onah, ce? I guess we'll have a few spares..."

Shane lost the first pair within 5 minutes at Hayden's birthday party. Then, he snapped one in the car on the way to swim lessons. The one he took to class fell apart...

Don't buy cheap goggles. Or at least don't expect much if you do.