Last year, we took a trip to the pool. As Connor, Chip and I took our cover-ups off and got ready to swim, Chloe excitedly jumped right in. We were thrilled to see that she was so comfortable in the water, but a little concerned because she couldn't actually swim. We jumped in to rescue our drowning Pisces and wondered why we had never signed her up for swimming lessons.
Meanwhile, Connor was getting better and better at swimming, but was completely unwilling to take direction from either of his parents, who both are clearly idiots and know nothing about how to swim. So this summer we took out a second mortgage on the house in order to sign them both up for lessons.
I had heard things about a magic lady who lived in midtown and taught children to swim in her back yard. Her name is Mrs. Holly, and she's exceptional! She really pushed the kids and they both came away from a week at her house with lots of new skills. (See above: Connor with a big goofy grin while treading water for 45 seconds.)
On the last day of lessons, parents were allowed to come and watch a little demonstrations of what the kids had learned. Chloe jumped in the deep end and swam underwater to one of the instructors. Connor swam freestyle across the pool, taking breaths as he went. Chloe retrieved a toy off the bottom of the shallow end. Connor swam the backstroke, and also dove in off the side. All in all, I was very impressed.
Two days after their last lesson, we took them to the Rhodes pool. Connor was all about it- he even went in the official lap lane with me and swam freestyle about halfway across the pool! Chloe, on the other hand, acted as if this was her first trip to a pool of any kind. As usual in every aspect of her life these days, she clung to me. "This pool is too BIG," she insisted. She's right- it's much larger and more crowded than Mrs. Holly's backyard oasis. But I still expected her to be a little more independent in the water. By the end of the day, she was jumping in off the side and opening up a little, but did ask me if we could bring floaties next time. I assured her that NO, WE COULD NOT.
Maybe she really is that pale. SPF FTW!
1 comment:
sounds like the chockleys should come to the JCC this sunday!
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