First Swimming Lesson

Nadia had her first swimming lesson this morning at the community pool. It was the first time we had been in that pool. In terms of the facilities, it's definitely a bigger, fancier pool than the one we belong to. They have water slides, a snack bar, ground nozzles spraying up water, etc. I'm still grateful we joined the pool we did because the community pool doesn't allow swim diapers in the main pool (only the kiddie pool), doesn't open until noon, and  gets rather crowded. I'm quite certain none of the lifeguards at that pool would have swum with Nadia like Joe and Kyle have done on many occasions. This pool is definitely better for giving swim lessons to preschoolers. Our main pool starts at 3ft deep. This pool has a section that goes from 1ft to 2.5 ft. Nadia could stand even in the deepest part of that section.

The lifeguard worked on a wide variety of skills during the 30 minute lesson including: blowing bubbles, kicking while on their bellies and their backs, jumping into the pool, moving their arms in the pattern used for breast stroke and freestyle, etc. Nadia followed the teacher's instructions most of the time. The teacher used the games "red light, green light" and "Simon says" during the lesson, and I don't think Nadia is familiar with how those games are played. We'll have to work on those at home. There were 6 kids in the class, and 2 of the moms got in the pool and helped the lifeguard. I wasn't able to do so since I was keeping track of Ian. He spent a little time in the kiddie pool, but the water was rather cold, and it went much deeper (2ft) than our pool's kiddie pool. He had fun playing with the water spouting out of the ground (like at a splash pad) at the entrance to the main pool. We spent some time at the playground before Nadia's lesson and then went straight to our pool to swim there for an hour after her lesson. We would have stayed longer, but Ian was ready for a nap. Tomorrow morning we'll only be going to Nadia's lesson because Ian has speech therapy and occupational therapy at our house tomorrow. I'm hoping to get some pictures tomorrow of her swim lesson since Ian will be home with Paul (and his speech therapist).