Swimming Swimming Soccer

Dom has been taking swim lessons twice a week since May 4, 2010. Yes, many many week of swimming. This kid was afraid of water and literally screamed when a drop made it off his scalp when I was washing his hair. I had to PAY him to go down the slide at the waterpark last summer and bribe him with lunchables and strawberries to jump off the side of the pool. After knowing that...now know that he can do a motified back stroke for an entire lap of the pool without anyone near him and with no lifejacket. He back floats better than most full grown adults. He enjoys bobbing up and down in the water and has realized jumping into the pool is FUN! He wears goggles when he swims, but he never freaks out anymore if I spray him in the face accidentally (right!) while washing him...he just casually wipes it away from his face and continues being patient with me scrubbing his hair. Thank you PAFC. And a big shout out to Ryan, the best instructor EVER...I give him kudos for being the one to start Dom on the road to swimming success as he was the first instructor who patiently coaxed him under the water and pretended like he couldn't hear Dom's screams.

Alli has been taking swimming lessons since around Sept 14, 2010. She started just before her 3rd birthday. She LOVES it. She was never really afraid of the water nor did she ever freak out when it dripped in her face. She appears to have been born a water baby. She is a little skeptical about jumping off the side of the pool and refused to put her face under water for the longest time when she was asked. But, I think the reality of this is that she is stubborn and just wanted to put her face under and jump when she wanted to and not when someone told her to. Well, last week and this week she finally did it...she put her face under every time she was asked and she even jumped off the edge with the grace of a typical crazy kid. Yippie! Maybe she will pass this time...probably not, but she is definitely on the right track.

Today is the last day of swimming for the kids. We are taking 7 weeks off. Last fall we did Soccer for Dom on M/W and Swimming for both kids T/R. It was too hard on Dom...okay really, it was too hard on me. So, this time around, we are doing soccer only and then starting up again with swimming the first week of May. I much prefer swimming to soccer, but want Dom to feel the power to choose what to do...next year he already informed me that he will be playing basketball instead of swimming in the winter! I do know that I will force swimming whenever I can until I know that both the kids will enjoy the pool and not have to be watched every second. I also know that approximately at the end of the 6 wk session (that starts in May) the swimming pool will open in Moscow and the summer fun will begin...weather permitting. Hopefully this year I won't have to go broke trying to con the kids into PLAYING at the pool...maybe they will actually enjoy doing it on their own!?!