big girl swim lessons

The last few weeks, Monday thru Thursday, have all begun with Natalie's new swim lessons. She's in big girl swim lessons now, and the best thing about them is that I get to watch, and stay dry. Natalie is very comfortable in the water... almost too comfortable. She has learned to wait for her teacher the hard way after jumping in when it wasn't her turn. She told me later that she touched the bottom of the pool and that it was cool. Though her teacher didn't quite feel the same way about having to come to her rescue. One of the neatest things about Natalie taking a class on her own is that she later gets to teach me things. She taught me the "red light, green light" game, and "Mrs. Shark, Mrs. Shark".

Monkey walking is another favorite swim class activity. Natalie told me today that she didn't like it when Steven subbed her swim class because he called Monkey walks "Crab Walks". I suspect this bothered her because she didn't get to say "ooh ooh, ahh ahh" when she did them.

The skill that seems to be the hardest to master is the backfloat. Natalie is supposed to be able to float on her back alone for three seconds before she can graduate on to Preschool 2. She's getting close. We should know by the end of this week where Natalie stands, but wherever she's at, she loves her swim lessons, and we will keep them up through the Fall.