Swim Lessons

This year we let the boys stay up and watch some of the Olympics. They really got into the swimming! Who wouldn't with Michael Phelps swimming so amazingly? Robert and I thought that it would be a good idea to maximize on this interest and put them in one last session of swimming lessons before school started. It was especially motivating for them because they both had reached the level (level 4) that has lessons in the lap pool. So they were swimming laps just like Michael Phelps, and swimming the different strokes just like him, and using goggles just like him, and..., and .... yeah, it was pretty exciting for them!

Oh, and nerd that I am, I thought it would be interesting to measure everyone's wingspan. Part of Michael Phelps' swimming ability comes from his extra long wingspan. His arms are 3 in longer than he is tall. The results for my family are as follows: Robert - 1/2 in shorter than height, Jamie - same as height, Brandon - 1/2 in shorter than height, Sean - same as height. I didn't do the girls because they wouldn't stand still long enough. And these measurements were very rough; not exact at all. But I think it will be interesting in a couple of years to see if the boys' arm to height ratio stays the same. I'm also waiting to see if their height at age 2 multiplied by two is how tall they end up. If only I could have a quick peek into the future!

First we have Brandon practicing his backstroke and then the freestyle. He got really good and could swim the entire length of the pool with out touching the ground once. You can see that he is swimming right by the edge of the pool. Every lesson he would chose to swim along the side. He didn't grab it that often (if ever?) but I think it gave him a sense of confidence that if he needed to he could. At the beginning of the lessons he was kind of tentative in his swimming and by the end he was forging ahead and obviously feeling much more confident in his abilities. It is fun to see him trying to actually swim when we go to the pool instead of just dog paddling.

Then we have Sean swimming. Sean was in a different class because he is younger and his teacher had him practicing with a kickboard and fins. Sean of course loved that since they are basically water toys. Then we have a picture of him treading water. Because Sean was in the preschool level 4 class I don't think that the teacher expected as much from him. It seemed to me that Sean played more in his class where Brandon swam laps more. I guess that makes sense if the kids are younger, but Sean is almost 6, so I really think he could have handled a bit more actual swimming. Either way, he still improved and gained a lot of confidence in his swimming abilities.





You might ask, "What were the girls doing during these swim lessons?" Well, let me tell you what they were doing. Sometimes we would go out to the bouldering wall and Natalia would climb until her head was higher than mine and then she would get nervous and climb back down. She would do this over and over and over again. Alauna would usually sit in her stroller. Sometimes I would hold her or let her crawl around but mostly she was happy to sit in her stroller and play with her toys. The lessons were only 25 mins long and when you account for us being late and then having to wait for the boys to get in the water and then back out afterwards, really the girls only had about 15 mins to play. The day I was taking pictures we had to stay by the pool (obviously) and Natalia kept wanting to play by the edge. I'm sure she was thinking that 'if I can get to the edge and then wait until Mom is distracted I can jump in and swim just like my brothers!!' Oddly enough I wasn't so good with that plan and made her stand over by the wall everytime she got too close to the water. This picture is Natalia feeling very put out; but you can tell she hasn't really given up on her plan since she isn't screaming and crying like her whole world has ended. And then you can contrast that to Alauna who is happy as can be sitting in her stroller. Kids are so much less complicated when they are babies. I'm reminded to really appreciate it while it lasts.