As I’ve mentioned, Bill and I are determined to teach our girls how to swim. The big challenge to master this summer is submerging: girls going under water, on purpose, and coming back up without taking on a ton of water.
Starting at the end of April, I showed Sam and Cate how to hum for the fishies. Over ten weeks, we’ve practiced in the bathtub, in the condo pool, and in Bellaire’s family frog pool. Cate got the hang of it pretty quickly, practiced on her own as well as with Baba Jean and Nane, and soon figured out how to blow air out her nose without humming.
Sam got water up her nose several times early on — she hummed only until she put her face in — which diminished her enthusiasm for practicing. The few times she’s gone underwater in the last two weeks, she’s brought up a noseful of water, sneezed, and declared knowingly, “I did not hum!”
Two weeks ago, I decided to attempt pushing them toward the steps and letting them clamber up on their own. Cate was ready and did all right. Sam said she was ready, but got a bunch of water up her nose, and did not enjoy it at all.
[condo videos here]
This week, we’re turning the corner. Saturday afternoon, armed with bar floats, they figured out that kicking their legs would actually propel them through the water.
Tuesday afternoon, while swimming with Baba Jean and Nane in the condo pool, Sam went all over the big pool supported by our new bar floats. She has the upper body strength to transition herself from two floats to one and back again, all in a controlled fashion.
Baba Jean shadowing Sam with bar floats
Nane shadowing Cate with bar floats
Meanwhile, Cate abruptly leapt from the pool step, plunging into the water in front of me, trusting that I would catch her. Startled, I scooped her up and planted her feet on my knees. Even before I could interrogate her to make sure she was ok, Cate yelled, “again!” and lunged away from me back to the steps.
I interrupted her to put some goggles on her, after which Cate insisted she go again… and again. Cate “swam” to me and back to the step 8 or 10 times before I insisted she rest.
This Saturday afternoon, Emily invited us to swim near her sister’s house, and Cate plunged in again. This time, I caught her on video:
At one point this afternoon, Cate tugged her goggles down over her eyes and plunged off the step into water well over her head, with no one in line to catch her. After one of us easily scooped her up, I challenged her, “did you forget to ask if a grown up was ready?”
C replied, “Well, I didn’t ask because there wasn’t anyone there.”
Hmm. Toddler logic is sometimes scary.
Here’s Sam, around the same time:
Initially, Sam insisted that Dad walk her back to the step. In order to be very clear that she did *not* want anyone to throw her at the step or abruptly submerge her, Sam asked Bill to “cuddle me back to the step.”
Later, Sam spotted bigger kids going off the diving board, and she wanted to try that, too. After we explained that she had to learn how to swim to the side before she could go off the board, Sam got serious about figuring it out. Her approach was much, much more cautious than Cate’s, but within 5 or 10 more minutes, Sam got the hang of taking a breath, closing her mouth, and holding it as she gingerly lowered her face into the water and reached toward me. Hooray for Sam!
Before we were done, Sam talked me into taking her over to the diving board. She isn’t yet comfortable jumping to me from the side of the pool, so it’s no surprise that once on the board, she was too nervous to do more than check it out and climb down again. We told her it’s ok, we have lots of time to practice swimming and can do the diving board later. Nonetheless, Sam insisted on climbing up onto the diving board three times, determined to try to convince herself to jump.
Cate on the other hand, walked directly to the end of the board, stopped only briefly to make eye contact and size up the jump, and stepped right into the deep end, where I caught her. As we reached the edge of the pool together, Cate insisted, “help me up!” and “I want to go again!” And she did, three more times.
* * *
Neither Bill nor I actually remember learning to swim. So while I trust that we’re capable of teaching them, I admit that at the beginning of the summer, I couldn’t visualize just how it would unfold. Nonetheless, we’re getting there!
