31 for 21 Day 6: Colin is a Swimmer

When Colin was only a few months old, Chris and I decided to enroll him in a parent and me swim class because we wanted him to feel comfortable in the water. The beach was always such a big part of our life and we wanted it to be a part of his life too.

We found at a very early age that Colin was really fond of the water and for as long as we can remember has really not had a fear of any kind. This has been really good and scary at the same time. He feels really comfortable in the water and we have watched the reactions summer after summer from many bystanders as they watch him in the ocean. Even before he could really swim he has found a way to be completely in it.

It has been important to us to continue with swim lessons so that WE would feel more comfortable with him being in the water. We were never sure how it would go with him being in an actual swim class because we were afraid since he loved being in the water so much he would not necessarily follow along with what everyone else was doing.

A year ago, we decided to do a semi-private lesson with Colin and Kailey together with a  friend of ours who also taught swim lessons. It went well so this past summer, we decided to enroll them both in a swim lesson class. It ended up only being the two of them and one other child but it was a great transition into the class setting. It was so exciting to see how well it went. The biggest challenges were mostly due to Colin's frustrations when he couldn't keep up with Kailey because he'd be yelling at her in the pool when she was "beating" him. He did really well waiting his turn for swimming, he participated, he followed directions, and he did everything he was asked to do.

We found that by the end of the summer, Colin WAS swimming and we were so proud of that!

This also translated nicely to the summer because then we were more comfortable with him being a little bit more independent in the ocean because we knew that if he lost his footing a bit (mostly when it was high tide), he could at least swim enough to get himself to a point he could stand. The biggest thing still is that he has absolutely NO FEAR of the water.