Swimming Celebrations

Swimming lessons are now a thing of the past for this year.  The kids finished last night, but it was questionable as Powell had torrential downpours an hour before and a 20 minute thunder delay before the lessons.  The weather held out and we finished with a bang!

Addyson is now advanced.  She mastered most of the strokes, but her favorite of all is the backstroke.  She is such a FISH!!  She fell in love jumping off the diving board, trying new tricks.  As with everything new she learns, she does it over and over.  She'd jump off the board, climb out, and get in line to jump again.  This continued before and after lessons until it was time to go home.  Austin wasn't comfortable with it yet, so he watched her.  She's working on the diving part, but the skill is something for her to challenge herself.  I am so proud of her!!

Austin knew if he wanted to keep up with Addy and have a friend at the pool to swim with, he must conquer his fear.  (We've yet to see any of his school friends at the pool, so he swims with Addy and her friends.  They love him!)  On the last night, he bit the bullet and began jumping off the board without his teacher, before and after lessons.  Now, he's like Addy:  jump off the board, climb out, and get in line to jump again, over and over.  Yeah, Austin!  He will be in beginner again next year, but he's improved so much.  He will need to work on floating on his back, other strokes, and diving, but I am proud of him as well.

Both of my children love the pool, one more than the other, but they look forward to going.  The mother of Addy's friend asked me at lessons if we are at the pool a lot when I realized we are.  It's our summer "thing"  and because of going multiple times a week, our children are comfortable in the water, and practice (playing) what they have learned.  We can't expect them to become proficient at something if they aren't given the opportunity to practice on their own.  And so we go!  They are growing up so fast!

Austin's Corner

****BREAKING NEWS****

My first swimming lesson was tonight and...I am moving up to Beginner.  Before I was a tadpole, but I heard my teacher tell her assistant that I need to move up because I'm floating and swimming.  Yeah, Me!  Tomorrow night, I get to be in the same class as Addy.  I can't wait!

 P.S.  On the way home, Austin said,"Mama, we need to put this on the blog.  Can I move the picture around?"  He's a techie all right! Celebrations are all abound in the Archer household.

Swimming: Then and Now

Last year, the kids began swimming lessons through the Olentangy Swim Association.  They are not involved in too many activities, but Andy and I want our children to become better swimmers than we are.  They have more opportunities to swim than we did as children, and swimming is a life skill.  As you can see from the clips, Austin wasn't much for swimming.  He preferred to swim in the baby pool, without getting his face wet.  Addyson began teaching  herself to swim underwater.  That girl would swim laps in the medium pool, back and forth, challenging herself farther and farther.  She even was brave enough to jump off the diving board. Once school began, swimming took a back burner, except for when we stayed in hotels.

Here we are in 2010, and what a difference!! Austin is jumping in and out of the pool, practicing swimming, and wearing his goggles.   It may be not the most graceful stroke, but he's trying.  Addy is now swimming laps above the water.  She has a decent butterfly stroke going, and is now swimming in the deep end. (A vacation celebration!!!)   We begin swimming lessons next week and can't wait to see their accomplishments.

“It's not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it's what you put into the practice.”