Swim Lessons

About two and half weeks ago Isabelle started taking swim classes, and I have to say that I was a little doubtful that it would work out for her. She has been the biggest scaredy cat this summer when it comes to water. She will get in but she doesn't want to be splashed and she would prefer the kiddy pool or hanging out on the steps. When my good friend Jaime recommend Mrs. Margaret to me I knew that I had to get Iz started in classes right away. She was so excited about it until after the second day of class =) The first day all they really did was evaluate her and the other kids to see which class would be the best for them, day two was the day that the "fun" started.

At Mrs. Margarets house Mommys are not allowed back to the pool, you just sit in a designated area on the side of the house and try to listen as best as you can. You cannot see the pool and so really you have no idea of what is going on, other than the screams from small helpless children that assure you that they ARE being forced to go under water. Really this sounds a little harsh but it is all for the better. So on day two Isabelle comes out with her nose just pouring boogeys, leading me to believe that she inhaled gallons of water. I start to dry her off and see in her poor little eyes that she is starting to cry. I ask her what is wrong, the response I get is, "I don't want to talk about it". Enough said, no talking! The third day she tells me that she does not want to go but seems fine once we get there. The week goes on and I hear things like, "Mommy, I told you they are trying to drown me". The best was one day I could hear them all laughing really loud. When class was over I asked her what she was laughing about and she told me that they were just laughing for the Mommys.. LOL All I can think is that they told the kids to laugh loud so the Mommys could hear them so we thought they were having fun... Hilarous! One day I told her that if she didn't cry today in class that I would give her a treat and she tells me, " just save it for tomorrow because I AM going to cry today". Hey at least she has put a little thought into it.. poor girl=( It has to be the absolute hardest thing I have ever done, taking her to these classes knowing that she feels tourtured and hates it so much. There were days that I just wanted to cry and tell her she didn't have to go, but I worked through it and put on my strong Mommy face because I knew it was for the better.

So half way through the second week Mrs. Margaret tells me that she thinks I should sign Isabelle up for an additional two week session. Dave and I discussed it and I could not put her through another two weeks, she just hates it. We were convinced that we were going to wait until next summer and just sign her up for two sessions then, we did not want to traumatize her. That is until SHOWDAY... On show day Dave and I finally were able to go behind the mysterious gates of Mrs. Margarets pool and see what our little girl had learned over the past two weeks. I have to say I was absolutely amazed and almost brought to tears (but I knew Dave would make fun of me if I did that). Mrs. Margaret had the little girl who did not even like to be splashed going off the diving board and swimming to the side of the pool, she would go off the side of the pool and swim to Mrs. Margaret, off the slide, down to the bottom of the pool to get rings, and much more. Granted Isabelle was not exactly jumping off the side of the pool or the diving board with great excitment, instead she was having to be put into the water by another teacher but WHO CARES! She wasn't crying, throwing a fit or anything. Not only that but she would tell the teacher,"I don't want to jump in, can you please just put me in", that is a huge step from the NO, NO, NO's we used to get. It was at this moment that I looked and Dave and said, " we are signing her up for two more weeks no matter what". When the class was over Mrs. Margaret told everyone that if they wanted an additional session that she still had some spots open. Before she could finish her sentence Isabelle yelled, "no Mommy, I am finished, I don't want to come anymore". That's when I gave her the old, "we will talk about this in the car". Needless to say after a little bribery we have started our second session on Monday of this week =) Stay tuned for updates.......

I love the look on her face going off the diving board. She looks scared but she didn't cry or anything (good thing because there is a strictly enforced rule of no crying in Mrs. Margaret's pool)

At the end of show day Isabelle got her very own bag of M&M's and a report card. (After each day of class Mrs. Margaret gives the kids a couple of M&M's, so it is a real treat to get a whole bag) She was also able to pick a new toy at the toy store for doing so good in the show, the winning toy was a Little Mermaid water slide for the bathtub. I caught her last night while in the bath tub splashing it and saying, "excuse me, I got to get the slide wet". That is what Mrs. Margaret says when she sprays water on the slide, she splashes the kids at the same time and they all laugh.. So cute!