Waterbaby Take One

I'm tired, so this post might be pretty short and to the point, but I know I should do it or it'll get put off, just like I've put off filling out Audrey's baby book for 5 and 6 months. That is something I promised myself I'd do religiously each month. Well....oops.

Yesterday was Audrey's first swim lesson. We signed up for one month of lessons, each Friday morning, at the downtown York YMCA. As James and I entered with all four of our shoulders laden with either bags or a baby, I realized I had never been to a YMCA. Not a huge surprise since Silverton is so small, but still! The employees were very nice and welcoming, made me feel comfortable about Audrey's imminent involuntary initiation to swimming. Now, she hasn't been a fan of baths yet. I hear other mothers getting all mooshy about their infants and baths, "Oh, little Johnny just looooves his baths, I just can hardly get him out!" Ha ha, well, not this one. She's tolerant (aka doesn't scream), but James and I have yet to determine if her splashes are "ooh this is fun" splashes or "eek, what is this stuff?" splashes. We figured the pool would give us more hints.

We went to the Auxilliary Dressing Room (for families) and dressed her in her swimming diaper and her new swimsuit. Sorry mom, but I think she's already too big for that cute animal one you got her. Can anyone explain how swim diapers work? I'm sure there's some great amount of scientific research that goes into Huggies' Lil' Swimmers, but really? No matter, they seemed to do the trick (I think).

Suz and Audrey, pre-dip.

The water was nice and warm at 87 degrees. Normally it's 91. The air temperature? Well, the sweat on James' brow indicates it was atleast 100. Nice and toasty.

So far, not so bad.

Then the songs and games started.

Ring around the rosie, pocket full of posies, splashes,

splashes, we all blow bubbles!

She didn't blow bubbles yet, but that's ok. She did put her mouth under, then tasted the water and made a great expression. It was pretty salty.

Ring around the rosie, pocket full of posies, ashes,

ashes, we all fall down! (down as in under)

Yeah, not such a fan of "we all fall down". The first time was the worst, as you can see above.

Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall.... you get the rest. But look at that pike-position,

way to point those toes, Audrey!

Noodle. Looks fun, but was completely awkward in truth.

Suz and Audrey, post-dip. No permanent damage done!

So we'll return next week and see how take two goes. The instructor was great, and the one other student was a cutie 7-month old named Harper. James will be in the water next week, hopefully I can get some good pictures of them together!