jul, 23rd - swimming....

[sadly, due to child safety, we can't take any pics of the lesson...so, here's a bath shot instead...her eyes are still blue but they seem brown here....she's not wearing contacts!]

day 161:

for swimming i am definitely missing two arms and a dry pouch (kangaroo style)....actually, it's not for the swimming part but for the pre-swimming and post-swimming part. for the actual in-the-water-swimming part, i'm missing a foot in height (although don't tell A. as I've convinced him that i'm really tall.....i wish!)

it was limi's first lesson today...we tried to find a dry spot in a very wet changing room; squeezed into a costume....hopping about, trying not to get the dry outfit on the wet floor and managed to drape around a warm towel...all whilst holding a baby (yes, that was just to get me ready)....

the next challenge was to negotiate the diving pool steps with limi taking up a vital arm (okay the teacher helped on this one) and stepping into a very deep 'shallow' end (the height issue....and i wasn't even the shortest in the class....although spending 30 minutes treading water whilst holding a baby afloat is going to get them back into their skinny jeans at a much faster rate.)

so finally, we were both dressed (undressed) and in the pool without extensive flashing or swallowing of water on either part. hooray!

the rest of the lesson was pretty uneventful in comparison. some of the tips the teacher handed out at the start:

1. don't try and get into/out of the pool without her help.

2. make sure that you don't walk the length of the pool with your babies' face in the water (it was happening...especially by the shorties in the class)

3. don't feed your baby less than an hour before swimming

limi Loved it All. 

she splashed vigorously from start to finish...i had to try and keep her away from the other dry-faced babies...she was literally dripping from eyelashes, nose, mouth the entire 30 minutes....(i may even have to wear goggles next week). when it came time for the teacher to splash water over their heads, the other babies were slightly startled (but bravely no-one cried) and limi thought that it was hysterical....AT LAST someone else was joining in. they also did floating on their backs while only supported by the head...which she also seemed to enjoy (and luckily inherited from me as A. cannot float....a surprising fact that he hid from me for years......i would have questioned having babies with someone who can't float!!!!) and finally had to reach and hold a rubber duck(the start of the safety lessons although you'd be unlikely to throw them a rubber duck in a time of crisis.)

anyway, having successfully negotiated the change pre-swim, post-swim, we all made the fatal flaw of dressing our babies first and then trying to get ourselves ready whilst stopping a dry, warm baby from rolling into a puddle (a mistake we will NOT be making again.)

next week it's the big dunk....limi is going underwater for the first time in the outside world (well intentionally anyway...think that there may have been some unintentional dunking during bath-time with A.)