Wednesday, August 20, 2008

It's fun to stay at the YMCA... ok, maybe not

I enrolled Asher in swimming lessons at our local YMCA. He's in the "splashers" program for babies age 0-18 months and today was his first official lesson.

We went to the pool earlier this week just so Asher could warm up to the place; I didn't want his first experience there to be during a structured time. He did great during that visit, so I was optimistic about the class today.

So today we arrived for our 30 minute class and all started well. Asher really enjoyed looking at the other babies and he actually participated in the activities, which mostly involved singing action-oriented nursery rhymes that led to splashing, and me carting him around in various swim-like positions. Then about 12 minutes in, it all went down hill. I don't just mean a little cry or fuss, although it started out that way. We quickly progressed to a full-blown, all-out cry fest, which included Asher's new move of screaming-at-the-top-of-my-lungs-like-someone-is-ripping-a-limb-off. And, I'll have you know, that in that large, open room, his cry and scream had quite the echo, which meant that all 12 moms and babies, and, oh, the 30 or so seniors doing aqua-aerobics in the next pool, were all staring at us. Nice. Needless to say, we left early.

And the crazy thing is, I'm totally going to bring him back next week. Those Little Swimmer diapers are pretty much a buck a pop and we have 11 left to go through.

Wish us luck, friends. Lots of luck.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are a very brave woman!

Anonymous said...

Ohh Mandi,
I am sure he'll warm up the idea! Takes some time...he'll get there.
Lots of Luck for next time!!!

Anonymous said...

Oh dear! Poor little guy! (And poor mama having to scurry away... I totally know what you mean about the reverb in that space.)

Hope next week is a little better -- maybe you'll get 15 minutes in. :)

Mandi said...

Thanks for the encouragement girls. I think part of the problem had to do with the fact that Asher was tired. He conked out in the car on the way home and stayed sound a sleep for just about 3 hours. We're going to work on getting his nap schedule to NOT coincide with swimming.