Swimming
Small Ball is in swimming lessons right now. She is very excited about her swimming lessons because she knows that if she successfully learns to swim, she will get a mermaid tail.
I am amazed by the persistence of the mermaid tail desire. She's pretty sure she'll want a purple tail, but sometimes she changes her mind to another color.
We've had two weeks right now, and it's clearly going to be a long process. Although we've told her she's going to have to put her face all the way in the water and blow bubbles to swim, she doesn't seem to believe us. She is getting better at being held by her armpits on her stomach and kicking. It's really cute. She also can climb out of the water pretty easily by herself although she prefers to push off my leg rather than the wall when the option is there.
The teachers don't seem to share my idea of what's reasonable to do with babies and toddlers. They keep trying to keep us on a curriculum of skill development whereas I am happy to let Small Ball splash instead of blowing bubbles when she loves to splash and is just not convinced by the whole blowing bubbles thing. I figure better slower learning and ultimate success than making the lessons scary and not fun. I try to walk a balance between encouraging listening to the teacher and letting Small Ball do whatever she wants that she's enjoying.
Of course, if Small Ball does successfully learn to swim, she'll be one up on me. I can dog paddle, but I don't swim properly because I, too, am not convinced about this whole putting the face in the water business. I used to be able to swim back in high school, but I lost the ability pretty quickly.
However, I am also eyeing a mermaid tail from a local costumer, which means I, too, should be overcoming the face in water business. I really need to find a place to practice--preferably with a heated pool.
I am amazed by the persistence of the mermaid tail desire. She's pretty sure she'll want a purple tail, but sometimes she changes her mind to another color.
We've had two weeks right now, and it's clearly going to be a long process. Although we've told her she's going to have to put her face all the way in the water and blow bubbles to swim, she doesn't seem to believe us. She is getting better at being held by her armpits on her stomach and kicking. It's really cute. She also can climb out of the water pretty easily by herself although she prefers to push off my leg rather than the wall when the option is there.
The teachers don't seem to share my idea of what's reasonable to do with babies and toddlers. They keep trying to keep us on a curriculum of skill development whereas I am happy to let Small Ball splash instead of blowing bubbles when she loves to splash and is just not convinced by the whole blowing bubbles thing. I figure better slower learning and ultimate success than making the lessons scary and not fun. I try to walk a balance between encouraging listening to the teacher and letting Small Ball do whatever she wants that she's enjoying.
Of course, if Small Ball does successfully learn to swim, she'll be one up on me. I can dog paddle, but I don't swim properly because I, too, am not convinced about this whole putting the face in the water business. I used to be able to swim back in high school, but I lost the ability pretty quickly.
However, I am also eyeing a mermaid tail from a local costumer, which means I, too, should be overcoming the face in water business. I really need to find a place to practice--preferably with a heated pool.