Luke Learns to Swim (well, to float at least)

Anyone who knows me knows that I have an irrational fear of one of my children drowning.  It just seems like everywhere we turn in the summer time (and sometimes in other seasons too), there is a pool, pond, lake, etc. and I can't focus on anything else except guarding the edges like a hawk.

Ellie and Campbell can both swim now and I can trust them to stay away from the edges unless I'm with them (not that I just completely ignore them around water, but I can at least breathe a tiny sigh of relief).  Luke, on the other hand, is a complete crazy man.  He has absolutely no fear of the water, no awareness of the edge, and even tries to wriggle out of my arms if we're in the pool together.  After this summer, I decided that for his safety, my own peace of mind, and in an effort to get him pool-safe within a couple years, that I would try putting him in swimming lessons.

I had heard about Infant Swimming Resource and read all kinds of testimonials and data about how not only can babies learn to safe themselves in an accidental fall situation, but also learn to swim safely at a much younger age than other children their age who didn't have early exposure to water safety.

So, we decided to give it a try.  Not only was it pretty pricey (although, I don't think it exceeded the amount I've spent over the years for Ellie and Campbell to take lessons at the rec center -- lessons that never really amounted to proficient swimming), the lessons were every day for 5 weeks!  Each lesson is only 10-15 minutes long, but still!  Every day?!  That was a commitment in and of itself!  I figured I'd try it for the first week and see how things went.

Well, after the first week, he could already hold his breath, and float independently!  By the end of Week 2, he was turning on his own in the water and coming into a float with no assistance.  At the end of Week 4, he was being dropped into the pool every which way and maintaining a floating position until the instructor 'rescued' him.  The last week was spent on learning edge-awareness (even after all the time spent in the water, you would think he understood that you can't crawl on top of it.. but no... the crazy little man, crawled right into the deep end going after a ball he saw floating on the water!), and floating fully clothed with shoes, socks, etc.

He finished in October and we've been going back to the pool about once a week since then, and he still knows exactly what to do.  Amazing.

I won't lie to you:  It's very hard to watch someone toss your baby into the water and just let them struggle until they 'get it'... I was in tears standing on the side a lot of days.  However, I'm so glad we did it, because he seems to have respect for the water-- especially the steps/edge, and I'm confident that he'll be swimming like a big boy in just a couple years.

Here's a little video I took during Week 5:

Here's another a little closer up: