Swimming Lessons - Parent's Day!

Today was the final day of swimming lessons for the boys and "Parents Day." Typically the lessons are closed to parents and spectators so the kids will concentrate and focus but today we got to go and watch the skills they have been working on. Both of the boys did great!! When we walked into the pool area at the time for our lessons Ryan asked immediately if he could go sit by his group and teacher. I told him to take off his sandals and he did and away he went - such a dramatic change from last year!! He really enjoyed lessons this year.

Neither of the boys are ready to move on to the next level of classes but Reid is just about there - I think he'll be there by the end of summer. He just needs to get a bit more confident on his back and work some on the basic crawl stroke (his still looks a bit like a doggy paddle). Ryan just needs a bit more time and practice in the water but he's having fun.

Reid's comments from his teachers said "He loves swimming but isn't strong enough on his back or stroke to move on yet. He's almost there! I think you should reenroll him in Goldfish 2."

Ryan's comments from his teachers said "Ryan is always ready to try anything but he needs more practice to swim on his own and should take Guppies 2 one more time."

Here are some pictures from their lesson:

Reid had just pushed off from the wall and glided on his back.

Reid kicking and swimming towards the side of the pool.

Ryan coming out of the water after one of his turns.

Reid hanging on the side of the pool waiting his turn for a skill test.

Ryan - hanging out. His class had only one teacher and 4 kids (in the four foot) so they had to sit on the side of the pool waiting their turn often. It didn't bother Ryan - they had buckets to play with.

Ryan on his turn laying on a raft kicking his feet (the teacher is just to the right of him).

Reid cheesing at mom after one of his turns - this kid is photogenic, or at least likes to have his picture taken.

Ryan backfloating with the teacher - he's actually pretty comfortable on his back and stayed pretty good for quite a while.

Ryan, playing with the buckets - maybe one of the most fun parts for him.

Reid just getting back to the wall from swimming. He won't do any type of swimming without his goggles.

Reid going back to the wall from his underwater swimming.

Ryan - more buckets, so happy. He even noticed many times that I was taking his picture and didn't complain. Alyssa heard him say "more pictures" one time.

At the end of class both of the groups got to jump in several times to their teacher. Ryan loved this part. Here is where he was telling me that he was going to jump higher than me. Reid jumped in as well but I didn't get a good picture of him doing that as he always had his back to me or was blocked by the diving board.