Gavin's "Official" Swim lessons

This morning Gavin had his first ISR swimming lessons at the YMCA. These are the "real" swim lessons- actual drowning prevention- where they teach infants survival skills in the water.

Gavin did awesome, if I may say so. Unlike the swim lessons we've been going to on Saturdays, these lessons are 10 minutes long with an instructor- not mom or dad in the water with him. Gavin didn't have a problem going with the instructor to the water because he wanted to go in the pool and she offered to take him so he was happy about that. Pretty soon he realized this wasn't going to be a "fun" time and there was work to do.

I would have videos but videos are only allowed on Fridays when they can feature what they learned that week. Some parents ruined it for the rest of us by posting their videos on YouTube. The instructor said that because of that we can no longer videotape the lessons (how they teach them) but on Fridays they can show off what they learned. I guess some parents thought they could teach their babies using the ISR technique by watching the YouTube videos of other kids.

I really like that I can sit by the pool and have the instructor tell me what she is doing and why she is doing it. First order of business was to hang on to the wall. He had practiced this at the other lessons so this was easy. The funniest thing is that Gavin would go to the wall and try to climb out, when he saw he couldn't he would tap his hand on the wall and say "Aqui, Aqui" (means "here, here" which is what he says when he wants to be sat or placed somewhere). He really wanted to be out of the pool.

Then came the underwater portion. The instructor gives Gavin a cue to let him know he's going under water. She said the first couple of times he might swallow water b/c he doesn't understand what the cue means but by the 3rd or 4th try he will get it. Sure enough the first three times he went under with his mouth open so he took in some water but he made it to the wall. By the fourth time, he closed his mouth and reached for the wall. I was surprised to see that he kept his eyes open the whole time. I guess they need to so they know where the wall is but I figured it would be instinct to keep them closed. The rest of the lesson were repeats of this activity.

At the end the instructor said he did very well. They lay him on their left side in recovery position in case they took in water and it comes back up. Gavin was so glad to be out of the pool, once I wrapped him up in the towel, he laid on his left side comfortably until the big burp came out. She said it's normal to have burps after the lesson since they hold their breath.

Since the lessons are 10 minutes long and back to back-kid after kid- for instructors, I got to see other kids' lessons and see how far along they are. The boy before Gavin's time is also 15 months but he's on his 4th week so he already learned the swim, float, swim to wall sequence. I met some of the other moms and they kept reassuring me how quick Gavin will learn and how amazing the whole program is. There was a 2 year old girl taking refresher lessons because they are about to go on a cruise vacation and the instructor was just playing games with her to test her skills and she did amazing. She was a little fish in the water and could float so well. Another boy who was 18 months was crying the whole time but it was neat to see that he floated when he needed to even though he was crying. Gavin cried for most of the lesson- after the first time he was put under. The instructor said he cried out of anger and not fear- don't know how she could tell the difference but I guess she would know.

We'll see how the next 6 weeks go. It's a tedious process because it's a lot of preparation for a 10 minute class. I chose to do it in the morning at 9:10am which may be troublesome since they're not supposed to eat for 2 hours before class and Gavin wakes up at 7am (sometimes later). Today I woke him up at 7am sharp and fed him immediately but he wasn't done until 7:30am and then he cried when I took the milk away. They're not supposed to have dairy before the class- (and no apple products AT ALL for 6 weeks- not even juice). When I saw him cry, of course I gave him back his milk. The instructor didn't seem to upset by the fact that it was more like 1 hour before he'd had any food rather than the 2 hours so hopefully we'll be ok. I also have to track EVERYTHING about his day- just like when we first brought him home. I have to fill this sheet out to let the instructor, Tiffany, know when he ate, what he ate, when he peed/pooped- was it normal, different texture/smell?, when he napped, etc. It's a good thing that from now on Nick and I will have him all the time so that we will know how to fill it out but I'm not used to tracking his every movement.

Anyhow, we go back tomorrow, and Friday...and every weekday morning for 6 more weeks! Hopefully I'll be able to post a video on Friday. Now we're off to his pediatrician's appointment- 15 month wellness checkup.