Elise and I just attended her third Daddy & Me swim lesson at Waterworks Aquatic Center. Mar found a Groupon for four lessons, so I started taking Elise the Saturday morning when Mar was at the conference in Dallas.
The first time we went, Elise was very excited to put her baving soup on and had fun getting used to the water and the games that Teacher Natalie led us through. She was not too enamored of dipping her face under or floating on her back with her ears under the water, though she did kick a little bit and loved knocking the turtle over after she "swam" to the wall. Even more fun was the changing room with Daddy and toddler showers right next to each other. She wouldn't let me turn the showers off. She does this funny thing where she gets down on hands and knees and sticks one of her legs backward into the stream of water. I think she's trying to avoid getting water in her face! As we were leaving the building, she started to get upset and said "More swimming pool!" So I knew it was a success.
The second week, Mar came along to watch and take pictures. Not our best idea ever! Once in the pool, Elise kept clinging to me tightly in fear and looking to Mama to rescue her from the scary swim lesson. She cried a lot.
This week, we were sure to leave Mama at home, but I was still a little nervous that we might have a repeat of the previous week. However, Elise had been practicing all week in the bathtub, putting her mouth under, kicking, even singing "Humpty Dumpty sat a wall, Humpty Dumpty sat a wall, wheeeeeeeeee!" which they sing while sitting on the edge of the pool before jumping in. She was determined to make this work. And she was amazing! She was all smiles and giggles from the start. In the wading pool before the lesson, she was showing the octopus how to do Humpty Dumpty. During the lesson, she kicked like a froggy, smiled after we dipped her mouth and then eyes under the water, knocked over that turtle, lay motionless on her back while I held her head with her ears in the water (!), and walked from one end to the other of the foam choo-choo train three times, jumping off into Dada's arms the last two times. Teacher Natalie gave her lots of high-fives and told her that she can go into the intermediate class next time if we want.
I was so proud of her for trying so hard and trusting her Dada. When we were showering, I put my face under the water for literally two seconds, opened my eyes, and she was gone! She must have been watching me, and the second I closed my eyes, crawled under the door and out into the main area. It freaked me out, but she crawled back in three seconds later with a big guilty grin on her face.
As we were talking about the experience on the way home, I told Elise that we can go swimming together again, but not until next Saturday. She, said, "No, swimming tomorrow!" which was the first time I had heard her say "tomorrow."
I was planning to stop after the Groupon runs out next week, but now I think we might have to keep going! It's great daddy-daughter bonding time, and it's fun to see her learning something feeling so proud of her accomplishments (regularly clapping for herself, of course.)
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