Summer Swim Lessons

     We started the summer off with two sessions of swim lessons. The first two weeks were outdoor, and honestly they weren't that great. Mostly they were being babysat, rather than taught and corrected. Here is Cole--oops on the goggles!

     The exception was Jack's teacher, a 60-year-old Grandma drill seargent. If they didn't do it right she sent them back to do it with the proper stroke. Jack progressed big time. She taught her entire level 3 class the side stroke, back stroke, elementary back stroke, breast stroke and freestyle. Lucky kids.

Trace had fun learning "Alligator, alligator, what time is it?"

Talmage thought his teacher was so cool and fun, but really they learned zip. Sorry.

     Luckily for all the boys, their second session was an an indoor pool where all the teachers were top-notch. Jack learned the butterfly stroke and kick-turns. I don't even know that stuff! 

     Tal and Cole got a lot of fine tuning on their strokes. I was so impressed on the first day the instructor got Tal to take off his mask and use goggles. For a boy with sensory issues that was a bold move. I fought him on that last summer and lost. Tal was ticked the first day, but by the second day he was o.k. with it and even swam laps for 30 minutes after his class every day. Cole improved 300% on his side-to-side breathing and went from doggy paddling to legitimate strokes.

     I didn't watch Trace's class much because it was in out-of-view part of the pool, but I was thrilled to see on the last day he could glide and kick underwater on command! Wow, they taught him to swim! The boys worked so hard those 4 weeks, I told them the rest of the summer we could just swim for fun, although it's hard to find a cool pool to do so and it costs $25 every time I take them. The boys say they miss our Memphis pool! I knew one day they'd appreciate it! I miss it too.