No thanks!

Brian and I will be the first to admit that we made a mistake with teaching Christian how to swim! If you have followed are blog for awhile, then you have seen the infamous Christian floating on his back! When he was around 18 months we enrolled him in an Infant Swim Resource class. It was supposed to be wonderful and life saving for the child! They teach them how to roll over and float on their back’s if ever they were to ever fall in a pool. It is a wonderful program but, unfortunately it scared the life out of Christian and being in the water! Last summer we quickly realized how petrified he was to be in the water without one of his parents. When we were in the water he would have a death grip on us! Bless his heart, he thought we were just going to let him go in the water! Unfortunately, that is how they taught him his survival skills...that would not do him any good at this day and time!

Last year we did not do any kind of swimming lessons because we felt it was just too soon again and he had no interest. We wanted to lay off the torment for another year and see what happened. Christian is definitely more comfortable in the water, but not to far from the steps will he move! :) That is alright we are working towards it regularly and he has had his first set of two week lessons this summer already.

The week before we went to the beach, Christian went to his first swimming lesson. They were daily for an hour for one full week. We did not do two weeks in a row because the teacher told me it would be good to work with him on our vacations that fell in between. The first day Christian did wonderful! When I went to pick him up he was going completely under water! This was a huge accomplishment because he does not enjoy going under water like most children! I was so proud of him!

One step forward and then another step back! That afternoon we all went to the pool and I was telling Brian about how he went under the water. Brian decided to try it and well lets just say, Christian no longer likes going under the water! The swim instructor did not take them deep when they went under and Brian basically sat Christian on the bottom of the pool! Christian freaked out and from there on out was very hesitant in swim practice! He kept telling me that he did not want to go and why does he have to learn how to swim? Wow, we really have done some damage with him and the pool!






The week went on and he continued his lessons, but he did not progress like the other students. I think he is scared and quite frankly uninterested! Oh well, we will continue our practicing and he has another week of lessons coming up. I hope that he picks it up because it would be nice not to have to worry so much when he is around the water! Henley is our daredevil and loves the water! She loves to go under and I am working with her on kicking. She is the one that keeps me on my toes around the pools! At least I will have one swimming by the end of the summer!

Here is some video of swim practice. She teaches them to swim on their back and front! You all will probably notice how he does not like to go under the water! Practice makes perfect and we will continue to work! Right now his floaties are his best friend! He knows his boundaries, which makes me feel   better for his lack of love for swimming! We will keep you posted!