Swim Class has Begun

No, this is not an actual picture of our class. Since I am in the water with Jase, there is no one to take a real photo of us. This is basically how the class was--one instructor and 4 moms with 4 kids under 3 years old. I am pretty sure Jase was the youngest in the class (lucky me). The teacher started us out having the kids pour water on the moms, then vice versa while sitting on side of the pool. Then we put the kids into the pool with us. Jase wasn't too sure about this idea (I think the floating sensation was weirding him out) so he clung onto me like a scared little monkey man. Eventually he sort of started to have a little fun, but about midway through the class she had us quickly dunk them in the water. After that he sort of went into "get me outta here" mode. Great. It seemed like a lot of the stuff was definitely suited for 2+ year olds (they had them do things like swim using "monster arms," "blow bubbles in the water," and kick on their backs, tummies, etc). Jase doesn't know how to even blow out air, much less what a monster is--nor does he truly know what kicking means. So I figure I'll work with him on that in the tub (wait, that could be a BAD idea). Anyways, the classes are 30 minutes long, 4x/week for 2 weeks. I'm hoping by Thursday he'll be feeling MUCH more comfortable in the water.

The teacher tried having us help them "float" but he was so insecure he wouldn't relax enough so I could help him try it. The only thing he did like was a game she did with little plastic balls. Each kid got one and threw it into the pool. Then they had to either "kick" or "do monster arms" with their mommies to get it. Well of course Jase didn't do those things but he stretched out his arms as I walked toward the ball floating in the water. At least he thought that part was cool! So wish us luck for tomorrow. Tonight I started doing more "water in/on the face" activites in the bathtub (I was looking at tips online). I stuck my face in the water and showed him how to blow bubbles (he did try this but instead of blowing out air he was doing that noise that you make when you vibrate your lips together--at any rate, it worked, sort of, but he inhaled a bit of the tub water at the end of it) and I also let water drip from a wash cloth down his face. He didn't like it, but he didn't cry. I eventually just dumped a cup of water over his head. He cried a little bit and stood up when I did that. Poor baby. Well hopefully it helped him out a bit. I'll keep ya posted!