swimming lessons

there are certain things in life that you have to do, no matter how difficult or expensive. for me, i need my kids to know how to swim. no only are we currently living in a house with a pool and a pond, but it's a life skill i want my kids to have so they're confident, and better yet, safe. during our awesome beach week, we spent a lot of time in the pool, and witnessed first hand our buddy owen swimming with amazing confidence and skill. lindsay strongly encouraged me to check out the swimming program at West Chester University where he had attended. we signed up to start the day after we got home. owen was also returning to take the advanced beginners class, so we were glad to have experienced friends to help us through the process.

to say the least, it's intense. they push the kids hard. they don't bring them back to you if they cry in class. if your kid won't jump, they will throw them in. but even on the first day, it is very clear, they care about these kids. their actions are not done out of ruthlessness, but with love knowing the skills they learn could (and most likely will) save their little life one day. after reading that the #1 cause of death for kids under 5 is drowning (oh so scary, but true) i was determined to protect my kids as best i can. i'm not going to lie. the first week was rough. at least 3 of the days, foster's sweet teacher miss jules had to pry him from my arms as he sobbed. but she didn't give up. she stuck with him, even when he made great attempts to convince her he didn't want to do it, she spent extra time with him, hugged him, and high-fived him when he made progress. foster told me yesterday that "miss jules holds my hand and we talk about stuff. i feel braver when she talks to me."
as of this morning, my child can jump in the pool, go under water, pop up to float on his back, and swim to the other side of the pool unassisted. amazing!!!

this video is pretty poor quality because we are FAR away in the stands, but it was one of the first times he did it all by himself. pretty cool.

** this was taken today at his last swim class!!