G'day mate we're off to swim lessons

Kids and Baby Expos are awesome. Free things, coupons, and talking with lots of people about how amazing my children are. :) The Opfar family checked out an expo a few weeks ago and one of the fruits of our efforts was a coupon for 4 free swim lessons for children under 3 at the Australian Swim School. This sounded like so much fun. The entire family would get to join in on the lessons together.

Our first class was last night. The pool was located inside an LA Fitness gym. I have never seen a gym so busy as this one was. The entire parking lot was packed full. The pool was located underneath the gym and had 3 lanes for swimming. Sections were created to separate each group of young swimmers. We were assigned the yellow group and proceeded to sit on a bench waiting for our class to start. The baby class (under 3) we joined was just Ted, Tidus, and a little girl names Kenni who was so stinking cute. She wore a little one-piece swimsuit with flowers on it and a matching old school swim cap.

I was impressed with the class. Ted took swim lessons back when he was 6 months old through the local public pool. These lessons were much more helpful I felt. The instructor had us dunking our kids underwater this way and that way. Wyatt, the instructor, put emphasis on getting the kids comfortable going under water. Previous classes I have been in, emphasized playing with toys and feet kicking.

I was nervous when Wyatt told me to dive Tidus under water and then bring him back up to the wall. What?? I had him do it with Tidus first because as a mother, putting a baby under water is the exact opposite of what mama bear instinct says to do.

Both kids did fantastic! There were no tears and they were very brave when they had to jump off the wall to mom and dad. Tidus probably had no idea what he was doing but Ted was a trooper. Ted was also the large kid. Tidus and Kenni are 7 and 6 months old and Ted is almost 3 years old. In a few months Ted will be 3 and then he will be kicked out of the parent and me class.

My favorite part of class was the little puppets Wyatt used while he was singing to the kids. There was a koala and a kangaroo (from Australia of course). That is right, puppets. Completely non waterproof puppets that dove into the water and sang little songs to the kids. It was so funny and so stinking cute. The poor little soaked friends also came in handy when the instructor demonstrated what we were to do with the babies.

It was fun and we have 3 more free classes we get to try out. I am unsure if we will continue after the last time because they are pretty stinking pricey. But when you watch the other children who have been taking these classes for a while and how well they swim it is easier to justify the money. I would love for both kids to become great swimmers for both safety and just because swimming is fun. As we left the pool Ted kept asking to go back. We must not have traumatized him too much.

Ted all ready to go to swim lessons