Pool Rats

For the last two weeks the kids did swimming lessons. We went to the pool for lessons for about two hours every morning, then we would come home and eat lunch, and then the kids wanted to go to the apartment pool for the afternoon. They pretty much live in their swimming suits now. I have been so happy with the progress they've each made.

Although Cody was already pretty comfortable in the water, he worked on learning proper form for strokes and diving. 

Kylee was not happy with me when I signed her up for lessons and dreaded the idea of having to put her face in the water. During lessons, she would sit at the edge of the pool with her class and look at me like she was being tortured. On the third day, just before her lesson began she started to cry. She didn't want to go in the pool. As I bent down and hugged her, I whispered in her ear, "Do you want to say a prayer?" She nodded. We stayed right there at the edge of the pool as I whispered a prayer in her ear. I prayed that she would learn quickly and enjoy her classes. As soon as I finished the prayer she calmly walked over to her class, got in the water, and didn't look back. As we drove home from the pool that day Kylee said, "that was my best lesson yet!" It was true! We talked about how we had prayed beforehand and how she needs to remember to say a prayer of thanks as her prayers are answered. She did. Right there in the back of the car while everybody else went in the house she said a silent prayer. She felt so good the rest of that day, facing her fears and gaining confidence. The next day right before her lesson, we said another prayer at her request. Again, she made leaps of progress. At her lesson on Friday she was completely different from the first day. She was actually swimming! Her favorite part was jumping off the diving board at the end of each lesson.

Olivia was off and on when it came to her lessons. Some mornings she loved the idea of going and other times it was a wrestling match to get her suit on. But she doesn't mind going under the water now and she is getting better at kicking and feeling comfortable in the water. Her favorite part was jumping from the side of the pool into her teacher's arms at the end of each lesson.

I included a bunch of movies of the kids swimming (below). They love to watch these!