Foster Family: swimming lessons

One of the many highlights of the summer was swimming lessons at the aquatic center. Rachel had taken lessons for a few years and loves it, but this was Bailey's first run with lessons. I was actually going to wait until next year for a few reasons. One is that although the lessons start at 3, Bailey was barely 3 and seemed a little young still. The biggest reason is that she had been going through a whole separation thing and had basically been my little velcro baby. She wouldn't go to nursery at church and she really just didn't like to be left with anyone but me. I didn't imagine she'd even want to do swimming lessons. She went with me (remember the whole velcro thing?) the day I signed Rachel up for lessons and literally begged me to let her try lessons. Knowing the the fee was nonrefundable and knowing how she would barely let me out of her sight, I was skeptical. Being a sucker for my little girl, and a sucker for a learning opportunity, I signed her up, too.

Both girls were super excited the first day of lessons. Rachel jumped right into the pool. (Well, acted like she was going to jump, but at the last minute, dropped to her bum and slid into the pool. For the record, she was jumping for real after a few days.) She was in heaven and loved every minute. Bailey was another story. The happiness turned to doubt. The doubt to fear. The fear to terror. Yep. It was sad. She cried the entire half hour. Now, it wasn't screaming-weeping-wailing crying, but crying all the same. In fairness, it was a lot of whimpering, but she was trying to be so brave. I so wanted her to be successful and she wasn't freaking out so I watched. I figured as long as the teachers still seemed okay and the other kids weren't wigging out, I'd wait. My sweet girl did it! She made it the whole lesson. (I have to interject here that her teachers were amazing and I was very impressed with them.) At the end of the lesson Bailey got out of the pool, smiled through her tears, and told me she liked swimming lessons. Go figure. The next day it took her like 2 minutes to warm up, then she was as happy as a clam for the rest of the session of lessons. Go Girl!