The first swimming lesson

Well, today was the day!   Togs were put on 20 minutes before we had to leave, hair was french plaited to keep it off their faces..it was all very exciting.  Daddy gave them a wee pep talk on the way there about being good and listening to the teacher, trying our best and not being silly together.  We got to the pool, and watched the classes before us finish up their lesson.  First signs of things to come - Jaimee watched wide eyed and interested....Kate turned her back and hid in daddy's knee.   Hmm....

 Kristy (their teacher) came over and introduced herself, and the girls happily went with her and sat on the side of the pool.  No tears so far, yay! Marty and I settled back to watch the fun.  Jaimee hopped in the pool with the other little girls when asked, all confidence and full of bounce.  Kate burst into tears.  Poor Kristy ended up with Kate wrapped tightly around her waist for the first half of the lesson.  I think the depth of the pool might have put her off a bit - it took a while before she would venture off the 'shelf' into the deeper water at her daycare pool too.

We looked at each other is disbelieve...then sighed and off I went over to the side of the pool for cheerleading duty.  Kate sobbed, but  I managed to pry her off Kristy's hip so that she could do her job with the other kids, and then Kristy took my lead, encouraging Kate to walk beside her.

 Jaimee, on the other hand blew us away with the way she joined in!  I think she quite liked the other little girls in the group, and took her lead from them.  She was bouncing around in the water like a kangaroo, and everything Kristy asked her to do, she did with not one complaint.  Who is this child?!
It made us laugh when the teacher was getting the kids to starfish float serenely, as she pulled them along by their hands.  The other kids starfished beautifully, but not our Jaimee: she was going to show off her best kicking skills (and by kicking, I mean hitting the water so hard that the parents got wet on the sideline)!


Kate didn't put her face in the water, but eventually she did let Kristy pull her along in the water.  I guess that's one small step right?! Our plan backfired really - we had only booked Kate in because we thought she would give Jaimee the confidence to participate if her sister was with her.  And now the tables had turned completely! If Kate doesn't do better next week, we will pull her out until she turns 5 like plan A was.  Hmm..