The boys are taking lessons at Sweetman Swim School. I have several friends who have done lessons here before and swear they are the best they've ever done. The class is 5 days in a row for one hour a day. Mr. Gareth (the main instructor) is not a sweet, loving, easy-going guy. He is more of a tough-love kind of guy who doesn't care if the kids love him - he wants to teach them how to swim. But at the same time, he really isn't a bad guy and everyone says their kids really like him by the end of the week. With Rylan being as stubborn as he is, I felt that this is what he needed. I was worried that anywhere else, the instructor would allow Rylan not to do the parts of the lesson he didn't want to do. Swim lessons are way too expensive to not learn how to actually swim!
Neither Carter nor Rylan was overly excited about swim lessons. The one time we've been swimming this year, Carter didn't use any sort of flotation but he only swam about 10 feet at a time and wasn't a fan still of putting his head in the water. Rylan HATES putting his head in the water. He still cries every night during bath when he gets water on his face. Plus he's always used flotation (last year was a puddle jumper). Rylan did not like the idea of not getting to use that.
The boys' first lesson was yesterday afternoon. We are doing lessons with Suzy's kids (who have been taking lessons from Sweetman's for a few years) so that helped my boys be a little more comfortable because they all just like seeing one another.
The lessons are at a Mr. Gareth's home. He has an enclosed patio he likes the parents of the new kids to stay in the first day because a lot of them get a little upset and it's better for them not to see us. I agree! Rylan didn't really want to let go of me but I handed him off and walked away. He was fine within a couple of seconds. Carter was excited to just go in the pool.
I was able to see a little bit of the lesson from my "hiding spot". Both boys learned how to float on their backs unassisted. Carter mastered "falling" into the pool and flipping over to his back. I'm not sure Rylan got to try that. They both went under the water some (I'm sure Rylan was forced though). I never noticed any crying though I might have missed it.
When the lesson was done, Rylan was happy because he thought he was done and didn't have to go back. He was not looking forward to today's lesson. Carter said it was a little scary and a lot fun. He was actually really excited about lessons today. I kept trying to get him to stop talking about it though because it kept upsetting Rylan!
Today I ended up sitting in a gazebo with Suzy where I was partially hidden but could see most of the lesson. There are 10 kids in the lesson with 5 instructors. Today Carter and Rylan were in separate small groups since Carter is obviously more willing to try things than Rylan. I had to rip Rylan off of me and there were a few more tears than yesterday, but he was fine as long as he didn't have to go under the water. There was a bit of wimping when that happened but no melt downs.
Carter on the other hand did great. His group worked on jumping in the pool and swimming to an instructor. During the swim they had to lift their heads up and breathe.
At the end of class all the kids had to jump off the diving board. Rylan was expected to flip over onto his back. He didn't actually jump in - an instructor lifted him off the diving board and dropped him in. He didn't flip over after a second or two so another instructor helped him do it. He was trying though.
I took a video of Carter's jump since it was the end of class and Rylan was already done (and I could come out of "hiding"). He's doing great for only being his second day of lessons!
I can't wait to see where the kids are by the end of the week. I'm sure Rylan will not want to go to lessons again tomorrow, but we survived today without him getting too upset before and during the lesson and I hope tomorrow is the same way!!!
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