Splish Splash

I think the ability to swim is a basic human life skill.

So as soon as Ryder was old enough, we enrolled him in swimming lessons. Unfortunately, he ended up in the hospital just a few days before his class was scheduled to start, so we had to postpone the whole thing until after Thanksgiving. But he's been in lessons for a few weeks now, and our little water baby is absolutely loving it!

On Tuesday and Thursday evenings we head to Si View Aquatics in North Bend for Ryder's "Parent Tot" class. I really like this program because the class size is small, the teacher is great, and they focus on a lot of important skills: verbal cuing, reaching and pulling arms, kicking, bubble blowing, submersion, climbing out and safe entry. Plus since it's a parent and child program, Stew gets in the pool too — super fun father/son bonding!

Ryder has improved so much in just a few short weeks!

In the beginning, he was a little bit timid and reluctant to try some things, but now he's much more confident in the water, and we see more improvement at each lesson. He still struggles with swallowing water (you'd swear I torture him with dehydration the way he wants to drink the nasty pool water) and he really dislikes floating on his back. But he loves splashing and practicing swimming on his tummy, retrieving floating balls and toys, and "walking the plank." Overall it's been such a fun and positive experience.

Swim lessons have also been a great reason for us to go out and do something as a family on weeknights during the winter (when we'd likely just hibernate otherwise).

Fun times.