My two big ones are swimmers. Really and Truly swimmers! It wasn't an easy battle, but one we fought valiantly and successfully.
I went ahead and signed them up for swimming lessons at the Heights Pool....despite my fears that supervising the tiny one at these lessons was going to be an epic horror. I was right-o about that prediction. You know that age where babies run amok, with no sense at all, but just enough independence and defiance to regularly threaten their own personal safety? Yeah, that's where we live right now. Livi was a hot, steaming mess at the pool every day. For one, the kid can't step into a swim diaper without going number two. It's some kind of mental thing. I tell her NOT to poop, she reassures me "I no poop in my diaper" and then proceeds to make it ten minutes before decimating her diaper. It wasn't helpful that she had a bit of a stomach bug which meant the poop hasn't been solid for around two weeks....(sorry for TMI) Fun times! Anyway, while the big ones were lesson-ing, I thought I could entertain her with snacks, playing with junk in my purse, and splashing in the baby pool. Nope! My tiny boss decided she wanted to be in the big pool (where the lessons were going on) and on the "playground" which is really a giant twisty slide that dumps into ten feet of water. I spend two weeks wrangling her away from all areas she wasn't supposed to be in....it was next to impossible. If you were at the pool the last two weeks, and wondered why no one was controlling the belligerent one year old splashing in the water fountain, sorry. That is the only thing that entertained her, besides pooping in her swim diaper.
On to the real stars of this show: the twins. They were really excited about swim lessons, and were SO excited the first day. By day two, Bub was still excited, and I was getting glowing reports of him putting his face in the water and not needing goggles to open his eyes under water. Sissy was another story. The crying hysterics started on day two, when I had to manhandle her to drop her off with her instructor. I (along with everyone else at the pool) had to endure her wailing for the full fifty minute class. The funny thing was, her instructor told me, "I don't know why she's crying. She can do everything I'm asking her to do." Every day the crying got worse....she said she didn't feel well enough to swim. She said she didn't want or need to learn to swim. She said she didn't like her instructor. (who was really nice) I held strong, and made her go every day. We tried bribery and being stern, but nothing made her stop freaking out at class. Finally, on day SEVEN of NINE, my mom took her and made her promise not to cry at lessons anymore, and it worked! She skipped right up to the pool with a smile on her face and jumped in. I'm not sure why she finally decided it was okay, but she did....which was great for me because for at least two lessons, I didn't have to worry that other people were looking around, wondering who the mom of the screamer was. The last day of lessons the kiddos did their diving board jumping, and I went down to the end of the pool to see what kind of progress they'd made. (I'd stayed away from them for two weeks in fear of Sis catching a glimpse of me and turning on the waterworks even more) As I watched them jump off the diving board, I was SHOCKED. They jumped in, and SWAM to the side. Really swam! It was amazing!! Nine days earlier they were still one hundred percent reliant on floaties. Our instructor Anne really knew what she was talking about. She banned the floaties and said they didn't need them anymore, and she is so right! For the last few days, my two peeps have been swimming fools at my mom's house. The are all over the place, doing so well! I just can't believe how much progress they've made in two weeks. We're going to keep practicing so that they don't lose their new skills, and we are DEFINITELY signing them up next year, along with Livi. By then, the era of the swim diaper will be over for us, and I am enjoying immensely the prospect of THAT.
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