Monday, August 8, 2011

Swimming

I love to swim, I have been swimming since I was toddler.  Growing up in Houston, TX, until I was nine, I don't know that someone could survive that heat without swimming.  My parents would bring myself and my siblings to the pool regularly.  They would swim around with us and just keep an eye on us as it was a public pool, and I can remember it being quite crowded.

I wish that I had done this with my children.  I was always scared that they might "think" they could swim, jump into any given body of water, and not be able to swim.  I have regretted not getting them into, and leaving them in swimming lessons.  It seemed that whenever we would start lessons, they would get sick...the dreaded runny nose and cough.

There is a pool in our complex and my sister and my husband have taken the time to bring the children to the pool.  I would love to be in the pool, but with my Pemphigoid Gestationis, I can't bring myself to get into a swimsuit.  You can tell that there is something wrong with my skin, although it isn't contagious, no one else knows that by looking at me.

My children are learning to swim.  We bought the children swim wings to get them started.  My youngest sank, my oldest couldn't go forward, and my daughter got herself going with them.  The swim wings gave my daughter all the confidence in the world.  After a week or so, she took those swim wings off, and she can swim pretty well on her own.  She puts her face in the water and everything.

My oldest son had no desire to go back into the water for a while after kicking and splashing and just going backward, or nowhere at all.  I decided to buy 2 swim noodles, one green one (my oldest son's favorite color) and one pink one.  The noodles have made it to the pool twice.  The kids aren't interested.  I bought him a kickboard, and it wasn't big enough.  He put the swim wings back on this past week.  When my husband was in the pool, my son had more confidence.  He seems to be getting the hang of it.  It may not happen as quickly as it did for his sister, but I am glad that it is happening. 

When he was a couple years younger, he was taking swim lessons.  His sister ran over to him, and told him he was going to drown.  I may never forget the sheer terror in his eyes as he came over to me crying, shivering, telling me he was going to drown.  He never wanted to go in the water again.  He is finally giving it another try!

My youngest is the proud owner of a training suit.  It is basically a life vest that keeps him above water.  He loves to jump into the water, go underwater, and pop right back up.  He comes up with his eyes closed really tight.  He swims all around the pool with this.  He knows that without it, he could not swim.  He knows that he isn't allowed to go in the pool without the training suit.  I am just glad that he has a healthy respect for the water, that he knows that he can't go in it without his mommy, his daddy or his aunt.

I look forward to being able to go swimming again, but until then, I will enjoy watching my children master the art of swimming.

1 comment:

  1. I love swimming with your kids. I think it didn't help that on Abe's first day of swimming I pulled that kid out of the water and told him that if he tried swimming he'd sink too :) He does love going under and coming right back up and yelling "cannonball" and he jumps in!

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