Swim Lessons

Eliza started swim lessons yesterday!

I was worried about her anxiety regarding swimming, and Nathan thought that lessons would be a great way to assuage some of her fears. Having a phobia of water myself, I agreed it would be good to start Eliza swimming young so she could actually enjoy being in the water rather than being terrified.

Her first lesson didn't go too well, though. She was already a little apprehensive, but was slowly warming up to being in the water after she received a lot of positive encouragement from her two instructors. The children were given rubber duckies and told to chase them in the water. This definitely helped ease some of her tension (Eliza loves games), and I felt okay looking down at my book for a minute. I glanced upward a few seconds later (seriously seconds) and saw that Eliza had walked down to the deep end of the pool and was completely submerged. Before I could freak out too much, an instructor immediately grabbed her and pulled her back to the group.

The look on her face, though, was pure terror. When I was three years old, I nearly drowned, so I immediately started to panic. I remember jumping into the deep end because my sister was swimming and pretending she was a mermaid. I then remember realizing I was drowning and reaching upward towards a pair of feet that were bobbing above my head. My one year old brother was floating in a Garfield life jacket, and I did my best to hold on to him for dear life. Fortunately, my grandfather was watching and jumped in to rescue me. I haven't really enjoyed the water ever sense (so basically my entire life).

With this in mind, I, of course, thought that Eliza would hate being in the water after a near drowning incident. I tried to let her teacher calm her down and acted like it wasn't that big of a deal. I gave her an encouraging smile from the stands, but I could see it wasn't helping much. I ended up going down to the pool side and talking to her for a second. Her two teachers were great at encouraging her to stay in the water and lavished her with positive praise. Once she was out of the water, she seemed a little stressed

Today, she was able to go back into the water, so maybe there is no permanent damage.

 She participated in the various games and exercises, so that was encouraging!

Also, she loves her swimsuit and loves getting ready for her swim class. That's another good sign! I hope she becomes a swimmer like her dad.

(And she also got her first pair of real ballet shoes today!)