A swimming lesson

I am still in bed. I am recovering! Yesterday grandchild one and I went to a swimming lesson. We were both wearing cossies under our clothes because I knew changing him at a public pool was potentially hazardous, and I was keen to minimize risk.

We walked in teeming rain (my choice, cos it was nearby) playing a great game of making police siren noises all the way. I did get a funny look from a workman renovating an old weatherboard house, but hopefully I never meet him again. We manouvered the pram in the door and into the change room, where we stripped to cossies and I packed our clothes into what I hoped were 2 piles of "putting on order" so we would seamlessly coast through the dressing hurdle.

Then we headed for the water slide pool and the instructor with dreadlocks. However, seeing this in focus,while pushing the pram and carrying baby one, was tricky without glasses, which I'd packed away for the return journey. The pool was easy enough to find, but the dreadlocks girl was in another pool, and since we were early, I thought a pre- class swim would be fun. It was, but then we had to get out and find our group. I think there were 5 baby swim classes happening,so we headed for the tots who looked a similar age to G1, and eventually I found a mum who recognized him. He sailed through the routine,which began with me pouring water from a plastic watering can all over him. He loved that, and the subsequent songs and water games. There were some good ideas, like making a tunnel out of a foam mat and holding a big mirror at the end, so when we waded through with the babies on their backs they could look up and see themselves. That was a clever way to get them to try floating on their back.

After 20 mins or so G1 had had enough, since we'd had a play before the class. So we left early and headed for the shower. I was very careful to avoid the "Grandmother drops baby on swimming pool steps" headline, and we showered, dried, dressed,and headed home. Well, it took a bit longer to do it than it takes to write it, but G1 looked at me as if to say ;- "You are definitely not as competent as my Mum, but you are an acceptable second choice."

He was too tired for the sirens on the trip home, and so was I...

There is a wealth of information about teaching babies to swim. There is even the option to have a professional photographer take a snapshot of the little tots as they glide up to the surface...perhaps not what Nikon envisaged when they developed their underwater camera, but hey,why not?

The pic at the top is from the water babies Uk site.