Moving Up to First Fins 2

We are very proud of our 3 year old Jake. Tonight he completed his first swim session (First Fins 1) in a class by himself. Since the age of 6 months we have taken him to swim lessons in a Parent/Tot class. Since turning 3 this past summer it was time to move to the next level in a class without MOMMY or DADDY. He was in a class with 2-3 other girls (some weeks there were only 2 kids in the class, sometimes up to 4). I'm very happy with the smaller class size because it allows more one-on-one time with their instructor, Miss Katie. Jake does alot of swimming skills well, KICKS, SUPPORTED FRONT & BACK FLOATS, CHIN BOBS, BLOWING BUBBLES, FRONT AND BACK STROKES.

There are a few skills he's been practicing and trying to get more comfortable with. First let me say that WATER is not one of his favorite things. He absolutely hates it on his face. This started at a very, very young age and no matter how hard Chris and I tried to get him to be comfortable with it we just couldn't. He cries and whine when we try to take him swimming in the water. We came to the conclusion that an instructor is going to teach him how to be comfortable in the water. He seems to be responding so much better to it. We want Jake and Casey to be good swimmers so we can enjoy long summer days on our boat swimming, tubing, skiing. Whatever we can that includes a lake. B

ack to Jake's skills, he struggled for many weeks to dunk his head underwater. Most of the girls in his class can do it easily and enjoy it. Jake would kindly announce to Miss Katie that he does not like going underwater and DO NOT try to get me to do it. By week 4 he was warming up to the idea of touching to his nose. The next week he went down to his eyes. On week 6 he dunked all they way down. He's very dramatic and comes up completely pissed off that water is on his face and a little bit in shock that he was underwater. Miss Katie gets him to dunk once for an entire 30 minute class. I wish it was more, but I'm very happy with him doing it once because hey, it's an improvement. Other skills needing improvement are swimming with a kick board and swim noodle.

But with much happiness and glee I'm proud to announce that despite the few trouble areas Jake passed his First Fins 1 class and was given the approval to move onto First Fins 2 for the next session. YEAH! Way to go Jake.


Daddy gets the pleasure of swimming with Casey every Sunday in the Parent/Tot class. She's learning her front scoops (think of doggie paddling). Daddy plays a game with her where he says "Fast Scoops" and she scoops her little arms and hands very quickly in the water, next he calls out "Slow Scoops" and she immediately stops and does very very slow scoops, as if she was in SLOW MOTION on the DVD player, really slow. It's hilarious to see. Then he says "Fast Scoops". It's a cute game between the two of them. She will continue her Parent/Tot class until later this fall. When she turns 3 at the end of August she can move on to First Fins 1. We are very proud of our little swimmers.