Swim Lessons.

These past two weeks, Nathan's been in swim lessons at one of the city's pool and water parks. He really had fun with it-- and while he doesn't really swim yet, he's gotten much better at just getting into and being in the water.  This first session was a parent/child class where they pretty much play games and sing songs with this kids, just to get them acclimated to the water.

Before his swim lesson started-- he was so excited, and pretty nervous too!

I told him to give me a thumbs up if he was having fun. :)

He loved going to his lessons! They were Monday through Thursday from 11:30am-12:00pm each day. And with the summer heat, the cool water felt nice!
Nathan was a little unsure at first, but once he got into the routine of his lessons, he was much more comfortable.

First, we take off our sandals, then sit on the side of the pool with our feet in the water.  Then, mom gets in the water and brings him in, too. Then it's just a simple routine:

-Wash our faces. (Getting our hands wet and wiping off our faces. This was seriously hard for N to do-- he doesn't like having his face wet!)
-Play motorboat three times. (Motorboat, motorboat, go so slooow. Motorboat, motorboat, go so fast!... etc.)
-Practice blowing bubbles in the water.
-Practice using your bubbles to move a ping pong ball around in the water.
-Climb along the edge of the pool ("Monkey walk").
-Play "Pop Goes the Weasel." This was the next hardest thing for N.  At the end, when you say, "Pop goes the weasel," you're supposed to splash. N does not like splashing or getting splashed. Some of the other kids thought this was the best part of the whole lesson and were a little over-enthusiastic about it-- and somehow we always managed to be next to a great splasher. At one point he was like, "HEY guys!! Please stop! Guyyys!"
-Practice our back floats. (Floating on your back.) N had to rest his head on my shoulder, and I held him from underneath his armpits.  Having my shoulder to rest on really helped him feel like he was still being supported. It was just pretty sunny to be looking up at the bright sky.
-Get a colored noodle and practice kicking from the wall to the lane line.
-Get a colored ring and practice climbing out of the pool to get it.  When jumping back in, they had to yell out, "One, two, three, JUMP!" This is actually a safety precaution to get them in the habit of saying that anytime they jump into any water. That way if you're in the kitchen doing dishes and you hear your kid in the backyard say, "One, two, three, jump!" You at least have those three seconds as a warning-- rather than being totally oblivious that your kid is drowning in a pool. Makes sense to me!
-Take the pool ring and use it as a prop in singing "The Wheels on the Bus" as a group. N's favorite part was, "The people on the bus go UP and DOWN, UP and DOWN, UP and DOWN!" (I'd lift him up in the air on that part-- so cool for a two year old.)
-A couple minutes to practice anything you'd like, and then CLEAN UP! On more than one occasion Nathan would start singing the "Clean up" song that they sing in Nursery each week. :)

And that was it! He LOVED it!

On Saturday, we drove passed the water park that he had his lessons at, except it was like, 7pm or so, but he still saw the big water slide.
"{Gasp!} We going to swim lessons?!"
"No sweetie, our swim lessons are over now."
"Yeah! We do go to swim lessons!"
"Well, did you bring your swim suit?"
"My swim suit? {Gasp!} We forgot! That's okay, Mommy, we can go get it, and then come to swim lessons!"
"Oh, really? Maybe another day... Nathan, do you want to have swim lessons with a new teacher? (Referring to signing him up for another session.)"
"A new teacher??? Noooo (shaking his head).. I want to have swim lessons with Ryan (his old teacher)! Because Ryan is my friend!"  Cute.
(And, just because it's funny-- for the first few days of lessons, N totally thought his teacher's name was Rhino. And called him that, often.)