Swim Lessons

On January 7th Y started swim lessons at the neighboring township's rec center (the same place I took swim lessons a few years back).  She wasn't enrolled in a private lesson but due to my decision to sign her up from Monday, Wednesday sessions at 9am in the middle of winter, she is the only person in her "class."

On the first day she said to me, "Mommy you have to tell my teacher that I can't go underwater."  I said, "okay" all the while hoping that she would eventually change her mind.  For the first several lessons, even though she LOVES being in the water, she would say that she didn't want to go to swim lessons.  I told her that we had paid for the lessons and so she had to finish them all.

Well at the end of her 3rd lesson she ran over to me so excited and she couldn't wait to tell what she had done.  She had just completed her first fully submerged bob!!  She hadn't been expecting it, but she wasn't as frightened as I thought she would be when it happened for the first time.  One of the exercises that they do together is to have Y jump in the water and the instructor will catch her.  Well on the final jump on that day the instructor (intentionally) didn't catch her.  Ms. Amber (her teacher) said that typically when she does that the kid will come up and be so afraid they begin to cry.  She said that while Y did have a very surprised look on her face, she did not shed a single tear!

After we got her dry, dressed and buckled into the car she said to me with all the excitement she could muster, "Mommy, I'll never say I don't want to go to swim lessons again!!!"

Here are a few pictures that we were able to take at her 5th lesson:

And then there's Q, who likes to walk around wearing her big sister's goggles!

Stoney Creek Metropark

After we returned from vacation we received a call from some friends that they were heading to Stoney Creek Metropark on that Friday afternoon and they were inviting a few friends to join them.  Since B was still on vacation from work and we were just relaxing at home we decided we'd join them.

We had an awesome time with great friends, great fun and great conversation.  We are so fortunate to have such great friends here in Michigan, it really makes being so far from my family a little easier.

A beautiful sunset made it even more perfect!

Becoming A Fish

It's no secret that Y loves the water, she asks to go to the pool daily and she hates being told on Sunday's that she can't go.  Well last month B had promised her that the next time we went to Wal-mart he would buy her a toy.  He thought she'd forget that promise, but he was wrong!  So when they went to Wal-Mart she got to pick out a toy - she picked a noodle to use in the pool - he got off cheap! 

So since having this noodle she has made great progress in the pool, becoming much more comfortable swimming around in there with B at a greater distance from her.  On Friday, I went to the pool with them to take a video, here are 2 of the quick segments I got!

I love to hear her say, "Daddy get away from me so I can get you!!"

A Conversation With a 21 Month Old...

This afternoon I was laying around in our bedroom doing a sudoku puzzle while I waited for Y to wake from her nap. She had already slept 2 hours and the painters outside were making a lot of noise (they're painting all the trim around the building) so I knew she would wake fairly soon. Literally, as soon as she woke up her first 2 words were "outside" and "swimming." I had been debating all morning (without mentioning it to her of course) whether I should take her to the pool after her nap or not. During the morning the sun was really bright and strong so I wasn't really sure if I should or not but when she woke from her nap it was pretty much overcast so I just decided to go for it. Now when I walked into her room I never actually told her that I was going to take her to the pool but the following two videos will show you that I apparently didn't need to say anything because she already had her mind made up on the issue. These videos were taken RIGHT after I took her out of her crib (well after I ran to get the camera) but this is the first thing that she did and the conversation that followed. It shows where her priorities are and makes me wonder what are we going to do once fall and winter come...

The Attempt:

The Conversation:

Kiddie Pool

On Thursday we were in Canada for the funeral of B's grandpa. After the service, lunch and watching the Mexico vs. France World Cup match we decided it was finally time to put that kiddie pool, which was purchased last fall, to use. Her Nana B. bought it for her at the end of the season last year and you may remember this post where Y was able to "use it" indoors.

Well it was filled with water early in the morning so that the water would be the perfect temperature by the time we were ready to use it. Y had a blast playing and splashing in it and we could tell she really enjoyed not having to be held while in the water. She apparently likes to do her own thing, here are some pictures and videos.

Videos:

She Didn't Get It From Her Mother...

You're probably wondering what exactly didn't she get from her mother (aside from her complexion). Well she did not inherit her love of water from me, that is 100% certain! I have learned to swim but am far from having conquered my fear but our darling Y doesn't seem to have much fear when it comes to water (short of getting her hair washed).

A couple weeks back, as soon as the pool opened on Memorial Day weekend, we took Y to the pool. Almost as soon as we arrived you could read the excitement on her face, but as I look back I'm beginning to think the look was more of impatience than excitement. I wasn't going to go swimming because I really wanted to just sit by and take some pictures so we decided B would be the one to take her in. Well B is extremely sensitive to temperature change so he had to slowly get into the water and let his body adjust before taking her in with him. Fortunately it had been very warm out for a while so the water wasn't too cold because as soon as she saw B in the water she began flailing her body around, throwing quite the little tantrum because she had to wait to get in. Needless to say she didn't really calm down any until I passed her to B.

On Memorial Day we had some friends ask us if they could come over and swim in our pool and we told them sure but unfortunately they came while Y was down for her nap, and afterwards we had to go our and run some errands so Y wasn't able to go swimming. But on Tuesday, B had the day off work and as we were headed for the pool were informed by some young boys who also live in the complex that the pool was closed because someone (an obvious idiot out to ruin the fun of everyone else and who also couldn't plainly read, or chose to ignore, the 'NO GLASS' sign) decided to put glass in the pool. It isn't necessary to explain that it is IMPOSSIBLE to explain to a 21 month old that she can't go swimming because someone put glass in the pool. Don't even try explaining because they can't understand, it is completely pointless to do so. But I gave it a try anyway. And her reply? She told her daddy that she wanted "down" and when he put her down she took him by the index finger and walked him to the gate of the pool trying her hardest to pull it open. When that failed, the tears started and did not stop for at least a half hour. We offered her cookies, chocolate milk (her absolute favorite treat), ice cream and anything else you could imagine and all she would do in response was cry and say, "water." She was so upset that she didn't even throw a tantrum about it, she just cried and cried and cried some more in between her requests for "water."

Due to rainy weather and other time conflicts we didn't get to take her again until Saturday. I took her alone this time while B was at work and this time it hadn't been so warm out for several days and the water was pretty cold. It took me a while to get accustomed to the temperature and Y was, yet again, impatient about it. This time I was holding her as I entered the pool and she just couldn't comprehend why it was taking me so long to fully submerge us in the water. When I was finally in far enough that she too was submerged in the water, she had absolutely no reaction to the water temperature (oh to be a child again)! We played and swam for at least an hour and at times I would notice a shiver run down her body. I would then ask her, "all done? ready to get out? wanna go home?" and her reply was always a very quick and very firm "NO." We finally got out once B was home and it was time for me to cook dinner but getting her out was not an easy task, she really threw quite the tantrum. But alas, she got over it and we went home.

Today we didn't get to go swimming but I can tell she has the routine down pat. We were in her room as I was changing the bedding in her crib and she walks over, grabs the sunscreen, grabs her cover-up, sits on the floor and attempts to open the sunscreen and apply it. She has also learned how to say "swimming" which I am sure I will be hearing a lot this summer.

Here are some pictures of her first trip to the outdoor pool this year:

Here is a video documenting how she spent most of her time in the water:

Just in time...

The pool here in our apartment complex opens tomorrow, so I guess I finished her swimsuit coverup just in time! When I originially started it, I was using only the torquoise and the purple to make the stripes then I ended up stopping this in order to start making Q's bolero for Mother's Day. I ended up with an entire unused skein of which yarn so I decided to start the coverup over from the beginning and incorporate some white in there. Once I got a few rows done, I was so happy that I had started over because adding the white yarn really brightened it up quite a bit. It fits her a little long for now (at her knees) but I'm hoping that means she will be able to use it next summer as well. I think it's adorable and I'm actually contemplating letting her wear it as a dress sometimes as well! Anyway, here are some pictures.

I ♥ TCP

Today I made my fourth trip to The Children's Place in less than a week and my seventh trip in less than a month. I'm beginning to think that I need to remove myself from their email list because the store is just too close to resist going and buying when I know what I want is on sale. It doesn't help that I stalk their website several times a week just looking for things that I want to buy and making a mental note of it in case it ever goes on sale (I never pay full price, well only once but that was a dress I just absolutely could not pass up). Typically we go twice a year (once toward the end of summer and again in January/February) to buy her clothes for the next year when they are having their AMAZING "50% off already reduced prices" so generally we end up paying ¼ of the price...it's great! But there are times when I see things that I think are must haves between those AMAZING sales. And so, I settle for just a pretty good sale because, as I said before, they are must haves.

Needless to say, today was one of those days. We'd been looking for a swim suit for Y for a while but couldn't find one we liked at a price we liked, so we thought we'd hold off for a while seeing as she probably won't need it for another month anyway. Well that holding off paid off today when I got that glorious email telling me that all swimwear was on sale at TCP. So I called in, asked if they had the one I wanted in the size I wanted and then asked them to hold it for me (glad I did that because it was the last in her size and they were also sold out of her size on their website).

You shouldn't be surprised that it is polka-dotted, if it's ever an option I will probably go with it. But I also loved the colors - so much so that I went out and bought yarn to match it and I am going to knit her a cover up so that we can walk to and from the pool without worrying that some pedophile is watching my cute little girl in her swimsuit (not that those idiots would stop looking because of a cover up, but every little bit helps). And yes, I am a totally paranoid, over protective mother when it comes to the possibility of crazy people lurking around the corner.

With all that said...here's her newest article of clothing!

Isn't that adorable?!?!?!

Last Lesson

I had my last swim lesson tonight and I am actually quite sad to say that I'm finished. I am extremely proud of my progress and being able to now say that I can swim. There are still some aspects that I want to continue working on, mostly improving my stroke and also my breathing technique (which as of right now is pretty lame). So I had B film a little video of me swimming for you guys to see. I'm still not as good as I one day hope to be but it's a lot better than I was 30 days ago. You'll notice in the video that I stopped fairly quickly and that is because I ended up getting a cramp in my foot (ouch). But not including the time I took to massage the cramp out of my foot, it took me slightly over a minute to finish one lap in the pool!

5, 6, and 7

It's been a while since my last swimming update which is very likely because I felt like my progress had stalled. Needless to say I had been pretty down about it because the pressure builds the closer and closer I get to my last lesson, which is a week from today. Like last time, I'll give you a lesson-by-lesson replay, so here goes...

Last Thursday, October 1, was lesson #5. It was much the same as lesson #4 (where I first swam unaided). We did several laps with the noodles and a paddle board, several more with just the paddle board, still more with just the noodles and finally about 5 minutes of swimming with no assistance. Nothing really exciting happened in this lesson, I was just happy I hadn't lost my nerve from lesson #4.

This past Tuesday was my 6th lesson and I was feeling pretty crappy at the end of it. Not because I had a hard time completing the tasks but because I didn't progress anymore. I was still swimming a little at the end of the lesson but I still couldn't manage to do it for long periods of time without my brain telling me feet to find the bottom of the pool. In other words, I was swimming for short periods of time and even that could be a struggle. I was angry at myself, frustrated and it didn't help one bit that I kept reminding myself that I only had 3 lessons left. I went home pretty downtrodden! I felt like I knew what my problem was but I didn't know how to fix it. I needed to find in myself the ability to have my head at least partially in the water so that my upper body was not constantly struggling to stay afloat as I swam. And seeing as I still have my fear of water, it's still perfectly intact, this is pretty hard for me. But allowing my head into the water will allow me to straighten out my upper body which would make it a lot easier to do the kicking motions when I'm not concentrating so hard on everything else.

The defeat I felt after lesson #6 actually gave me a great deal of motivation for tonight's lesson, #7. I'm pretty sure that knowing how few lessons I have remaining also had something to do with it. We went about the usual laps in the pool and we'd randomly take a minute break here and there in order to give myself a little rest. While taking these breaks I decided I would work on going underwater. I would take a deep breath, submerge my head, and bring it back up when I needed to breathe. While doing my laps with the noodles I decided that I would attempt to do it then as well. I was actually surprised by how much easier it made the whole swimming process! I would take a deep breath, hold it, submerge my head a little, exhale and repeat...all while continuously swimming. I felt like I had made a major breakthrough. I was totally amazed at how much easier it made things, not only because my body was better aligned but also because I wasn't spending so much time and energy focusing on trying to keep water away from and out of my nose. I was so excited about this but I knew the hard part was still to come. It was time for me to set the noodles aside and do it all on my own. So I tried my best to relax, took a deep breath, closed my eyes and just started. Boy did I feel my muscles start to burn but I kept at it until I couldn't take it anymore and when I stopped I realized that I had swam half the length of the pool! I don't know who was more excited, me or my instructor.

It is so very exciting for me, I love to marvel at the progress that I have made since I first started. I was talking to a friend on the phone yesterday and she said to me, "Umeka, I can swim a mile and I'm still not over my fear of water." And I can now say that I completely understand what she means by that but before I started these lessons her statement would have been a total oxymoron to me. I am still afraid of water, but I'm going to learn to swim anyway. I don't think my fear will ever completely go away, it'll probably show its ugly head everytime I get in a pool, but I'm gonna do it anyway!

Who Woulda Thunk It?!?!

I am sssooo excited, I can hardly contain myself, I seriously couldn't go to bed without typing this post!!! Tonight I had my fourth swim lesson and guess what - at the end of the lesson, I swam all by myself; no assistance and no floatation device. I left that lesson walking on air! I would have never thought that I would be swimming after only four lessons. Now it wasn't the perfect swim with the beautiful strokes that experience swimmers do, but it was me, refusing to allow my feet to rely on the safety that could be found at the bottom of the pool.

With that said, I'll give you more details of the entire lesson. We started the lesson off using the noodles and the paddle board. The noodles were under my arms (in my armpits) and my arms were fully extended with my hand holding the paddle board. We did this so that I could focus on the kicking without having to worry about my hands or arm movements. We did 6 laps using this method, I found that doing this I had to stop frequently because I would reach a point and even though I was kicking, I didn't feel like I was moving forward. So I would stop and use my feet to push off the bottom of the pool which gave me more momentum to push myself forward. After six laps of that he took away the paddle board and wanted me to use my arms (imagine the doggy paddle stroke). I actually was relieved to get rid of the board and use my arms because then I actually felt like I was moving. We did this for 3 laps of the pool and I actually surprised my instructor! He kept telling me that I could stop whenever I felt like it and take a break, but for the first 2 laps I made it over half the length of the pool without stopping and on the third lap I made it the ENTIRE length of the pool. He also told me that he knew I could do it without the noodles but he still wanted me to work with the noodles in order to help with my endurance training. So with 5-6 minutes left in our session he asked if I wanted to continue using the noodle or try it without, and of course I choose to try it without the noodles. At first I struggled to just let go and not use the pool floor as my safety net but after trying it a few times I DID IT!!! I swam all by myself with absolutely no help of any kind and I was so happy that I could have cried.

I am totally and completely amazed at the progress I have made. Some of you may not really know or understand just how terrified I was (and kinda still am) of water and the idea of swimming. But imagine your worst fear, the one thing you've spent your entire life being afraid of and then one day deciding that you have to overcome that fear. Maybe that's easy for some people, but for me, I can honestly say that this is the scariest and hardest thing I've ever attempted. I have gone from nearly drowning myself in my first lesson (and that's not being overly dramatic) to allowing myself to trust water enough to swim for a short period of time without panicking or fearing the worst. And I cannot take full credit for my accomplishments either. Heavenly Father has been such a HUGE help for me in this, each time I have gotten in that water He has sent his Spirit to help me, to comfort me, and let me know that everything is okay. To let me know that I can do this and that He did, indeed, listen to every prayer (and there have been a lot of them) that I sent up to Him before starting my lesson on any given day. And I am so grateful that I have the ability to not only ask for His help but also to have my prayers answered because I can tell you my progress would not be possible without Him and His Spirit.

Forgive me for taking ya'll to church in that last paragraph but I would feel very ungrateful if I didn't say that because, trust me, I have taken up a lot of His time in the last few weeks (haha). And I have a stronger testimony of prayer and faith because of it.

Also, thanks to all of you for your kind words of encouragement and support! I appreciate it more than you know.

Here are some photos of the township recreation center where I have my swim lessons and where Y and B play while I learn:

This is a shot of the Lazy River, Lap pool (where I swim) and some log balancing thing.

Here's the Lap Pool, where magic is made (and no, not that kinda magic).

The splash pad area without all the sprayers on, of course.

The water slide.

3 Down, 6 To Go!

I must apologize for my blogging absence, I really intended to write a post before now but just never did it. I've been wanting to update you all on my swim lessons which have had me experiencing a whole array of emotions. As the title indicates I have completed 3 lessons and I have 6 more to go.

My first lesson was an ordeal to say the least and had it not been for the $90 I paid to take the lessons, I probably would have given up. I also had to keep reminding myself what my true motivation is - Y! So when I first got in the water he wanted to see what I knew, which I told him was nothing, but I really don't think he believed I knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! Boy did he get a rude awakening, it's kind of funny now that I look back on it. So he gave me a little swim/float board and told me to hold it, lean forward and then let myself go. At this point I'm just staring at this guy like he's crazy but I kinda did what he said...I held it, leaned forward, but could not for the life of me convince myself to let go. Then he gave me noodles and after about 10 minutes with the noodles I began to trust them (somewhat). I was pretty happy with that because for me it was HUGE so after I made that progress he decided to take the noodles away and have me try it which turned into a disaster! I felt like there were several times when I could have drowned, fortunately for me my time was up for that day. I left feeling completely hopeless and downtrodden. I hated feeling that way, I hated swimming, and I hated the fact that I had spent that much money for nothing. I beat myself up about it over and over again even though, in all actuality, I had made a lot of progress just by trusting those stupid noodles. I am completely not used to not learning something rather quickly, most things come natural to me. On the way home B attempted to comfort me by comparing it to riding a bike, but I learned to ride a bike in about 2-3 hours with no training wheels, so the analogy was lost on me. Plus, I was never afraid of riding a bike!

Before lesson #2 I spent A LOT of time praying, for courage, for strength, and most importantly for patience with myself. In the first lesson I kept getting so upset with myself for not catching onto things on first attempt and this really inhibited me. I went into the water really nervous and shaking but still praying and I assure you were it not for those prayers I would never have gotten in that swimming pool again. Because had my performance in lesson #2 been even remotely similar to lesson #1 I don't think I would have had the ability to get in that pool again. But fortunately lesson #2 was AWESOME!!! I felt like I made so much progress that it was truly amazing to me, my prayers were definitely answered. I was able to let myself go enough to float both on my back and on my stomach with my head under water, which is no small feat considering I still have a hard time washing my face while in the shower because of the idea of water rushing over my face. At the beginning of the lesson, just to re-familiarize myself, I used the noodles again. But later in the lesson, when he asked if I wanted the noodle again for another exercise we were working on, I actually told him no. I was so surprised and proud of myself at that moment and I completed the remainder of the lesson with no noodle at all. I still struggled with the idea of letting go and allowing my feet to rise off the bottom of the pool, but I managed to do it for short intervals...again this was HUGE for me. Needless to say, I left the lesson floating on air! Even my instructor was completely surprised at my progress.

Yesterday was lesson #3 and it was neither as discouraging as lesson #1 nor as encouraging as lesson #2, I'd have to say it was just average. Don't misinterpret that, I yet again made huge progress, but it just didn't evoke the emotions that the first two lessons did. We started the lessons in the Lazy River, which is just a portion of the pool with fast flowing water so you really don't even need to swim because the water just pushes your body along. The point of this was to help me keep my feet up and off the bottom of the pool. Honestly, I felt as if this was more of a hindrance than a help because the Lazy River is also on the shallow end - I could get on my knees and still have my head above the water. So I found it really hard to not have my feet touch bottom. A weird thing I discovered while in the pool yesterday is that I find that I do better with deeper water, I found that I struggled more in the shallow end (by deeper I mean 5' as opposed to 3'). By the end of the lesson I can say that I am comfortable "letting go" but I don't yet have the confidence or ability to do it for long periods of time.

All-in-all I am very excited with my progress and what I have learned thus far. I keep praying really hard for Heavenly Father's guidance and thus far He has not let me down (but we know He never will)! I also keep reminding myself of what the purpose of this whole journey is and that is a huge motivator to me. I'm not looking to be Michael Phelps but rather to be a mom that can be there for my child(ren) if they should ever need me in that capacity. My hope and prayer is that they never will...but better safe than sorry!

Swimming

Later today, I officially begin swim lessons. I am nervous, scared, apprehensive, and pretty much any other word you choose to use that could be synonymous with terrified! My goal is rather simple, I only seek to be able to swim well enough to assist Y if the need should ever arise. That should be easy, right?!?! I'm afraid not because that would require me trusting a perfect stranger and I'm not very good at that. One thing I have going for me is that the water I'll be learning in is only 5' deep so at least I can still stand and my head be above water. Make sure you say plenty of prayers for me, if not today then definitely on Thursday when I will get in the water for the first time. Today I will meet with my instructor and set goals for myself.


Speaking of swimming...Nana B. went out and bought Y a swimming pool last week, since all swimming gear is now on clearance. She bought her a whale of a pool (that's a joke...see the pictures below) for C$5 (that's 5 Canadian dollars, if you didn't guess). Well on Sunday the weather was so beautiful that we had every intention of blowing the pool up and taking it outside for Y to play in. Well we (I say 'we' but really, I had nothing to do with it) got the bright idea to blow the pool up inside first and then take it outside. Well, we really had no clue just how big this pool was going to end up being. And after we got it blown up (not even fully blown up to maximum capacity, but just enough to see how big it is) we realized that there was no way we were going to get that thing out of the house without first deflating it, which was not an option. And it turns out that it didn't matter anyway! Because as soon as we got the air in it, Y manages to crawl over the side of the pool and start playing in it just the way it was. It was quite entertaining to watch and she actually played there the rest of the day. Needless to say I am considering putting a huge pool in the middle of my living room now! She was very content to climb in and out all day.

Another thing I should mention is that a couple weeks ago I noticed that Y now poses for pictures. If she sees me pull the camera out and hears the beep it makes when it turns on, she immediately drops what she is doing and smiles for the camera. She is such a cheese ball! And is it any wonder that she knows what to do when a camera is turned on?!?! I guess that's completely my fault, maybe I should invest in one of those fancy SLR cameras and catch some REALLY good shots. But until then...you'll have to just enjoy the ones I have!