Ian Goes Swimming

Today was the last class of the session in our parent/child swim class. Ian seems to have really enjoyed this class and has made progress in his baby swim skills. We have also had fun with it, and Doug has declared it his favorite parenting activity to date (particularly because in the pool Ian cannot walk away when he gets distracted, so they can focus on the same activity together for an extended period of time). Each week it's a little stressful getting ready in time to be in the pool by 9am on Saturday, but always worth it. Ian won't be old enough for the next swim class until he's three, so we anticipate taking this class many times in the next year and half.

In the last two weeks, Ian has made noticeable progress with three skills. First, he started kicking on his own last week, rather than having us move his legs during the kicking exercises. Second, he gets the idea of how to climb out of the pool and can do it with some assistance. Third, this morning he blew bubbles in the water for the first time. Yay Ian! It's really cool to see that he has learned things in such a short amount of time. I thought it would be months before he tried blowing bubbles in the water. What a clever boy :)

The classes are a mix of songs in a group that incorporate different water movements interspersed with time to work on specific skills individually. Here Ian and Daddy are moving around the circle during the Motorboat song that class starts with:

And here is the first exercise, kicking on the stomach:

Most of the songs involve this tossing baby in the air move, which Ian loves:

Kicking on the back. Here Ian was kicking on his own:

Climbing out of the pool - we are learning to do it in a way that makes it less likely for them to fall backwards back into the water (a safety consideration, although we don't expect to leave Ian in the pool by himself any time soon):

When he climbs out, the idea is to jump back in to Daddy. He will do this, but sometimes tries to walk away instead (especially when Mommy is sitting nearby taking pictures!):

The ducky activity in which the kids reach out away from their parent to get the duck:

Daddy chewing on Ian's ear (not an official activity, but apparently quite fun):