Last Tuesday was James' first swimming lesson at the YMCA and he was not a fan! I don't know if it was the newness of being in a pool (we are mostly beach people), how cold it was (the water was 74 degrees with a lot of wind!), or general crankiness but he cried and said "No mommy!!!" almost the entire 30 minutes! Since the lessons are in the afternoon, Anthony came with us and sat on the deck behind us and James desperately kept trying to crawl out of the pool towards him. I felt so bad for the little guy! I also felt a little bit like a crazy person because I kept manically laughing and smiling, trying to convince James it was fun and not scary. Didn't work.
Here we are walking to the "deeper" side of the pool. I'm pretty sure James could still touch over here, but he didn't care. It was still too deep for him.
They were trying to get him to "dig" in the water with his hands, but all he would do was splash me. As long as he isn't crying, we will take it!
He absolutely hated being pulled into the water! They had us count to three and then lift them up and put them in the water with a big splash (all the while holding on to us). As soon as I would start counting James would scream, "No mommy!!!" and once he was in the water he would say over and over again, "wall, wall, wall" (since he wanted to go back to the edge)
Here he is trying to escape to Anthony:
Getting him back into the pool. Look at that face!
Trying to get him to lean back and float a little. Definitely hated it.
Swimming back to the wall. I think the only reason he doesn't look too unhappy in this picture is because he is on his way to safety :)
After the official lesson was over, he had a lot of fun circling the entrance to the pool and splashing his feet. He definitely didn't want to get back in the water, even to play!
Right before we left he decided he was comfortable with ankle depth water so that he could get some good splashes in.
The next day of lessons didn't go much better. He didn't seem as terrified, but was just as uncooperative. Today was our third lesson and he was light years better! He loved almost every part of it!! He still didn't really care for trying to float, but when I would count to three and put my arms up to lift him into the water, he would actually lean towards my arms like he couldn't wait! He laughed so much and seemed to really enjoy himself, so I am totally relieved that the next few weeks aren't going to be miserable torture. Today was also the first time Anthony didn't come with us, so I don't know if that made a difference. I guess we will have to test it out and see sometime this week, although I am hesitant to jinx it. I definitely don't want to go back to a fighting uncooperative toddler in the pool!
*As a side note, I think it was poor planning on my part to sign us up for lessons that require me to get into a bathing suit every. single. day. while I am in the "squishy belly" stage of pregnancy. I have to stop myself from telling every stranger that is in the pool that I am pregnant so that they don't think I just have this lumpy gut!*
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