Swim lessons

It's almost hard to believe that last June Ian dreaded going to swimming lessons and cried most of the way through his first two lessons. This year was a COMPLETELY different story! He remembered some of what Ms. Amber taught him last year, so he went in with some confidence. AND ... Ms. Amber scheduled him to have lessons with two of his wonderful friends, Caleb L. and Christopher! Ms. Amber sure had to have patience and energy to keep up with the three of them, but she did a great job ... and so did they!

They did lots of practice with kicking,

blowing bubbles,

and getting their arms moving.

Not surprisingly, the hardest thing was putting it all together to actually 'swim.' By about lesson four (of six), Ian seemed to get the hang of things. He beamed with pride when Ms. Amber said he was a SWIMMER!

Ms. Amber knew just how to give the boys help when needed but to let them work hard to do things on their own whenever possible!

The boys loved monkey walking around the pool when they swam to one of the sides.

"Put your belly to the sky," said Ms. Amber.

Ms. Amber thought of fun "games" to play at the end of the classes. Here, the boys are playing Ring Around the Rosy. Other days, she had them dive for rings or jewels.

We were so impressed when Ian was able to push off the side and go across the pool to Ms. Amber all by himself. Of course, Ian still has a lot to learn, but he has gotten a great start! And, we've been able to practice his skills lots at our neighborhood pool. We try to use some of Ms. Amber's cool phrases (like the reminder to "lick it and stick it" to keep his fingers together when swimming) when we can. Daddy does a good job of pushing Ian to go longer and longer distances while Momma is still cautious with her expectations. :) Ian is getting better and better and (most importantly!) is really enjoying his all time in the water... as long as the pool isn't too cold! :)

Below are a few more pictures of our "swimmer" as well as some videos of what he learned!