Dave managed to sit and observe one of our baby swimming water learning classes, and he brought the camera along. Taking pictures from a distance of an indoor pool is not the easiest, but he did his best. I combined most of the photos into little action sequences, so it’s hopefully not too big of a deal that they’re a bit fuzzy. Anyway, here we are, ready to go:

I got her a washable swim diaper, bit I’m way too lazy to stuff her into an actual swim suit. She doesn’t look too scarred for life yet…

One of the main things we work on is supported back floats. I think the blue foam thing is to give the babies something to look at as they’re floating around:

Another thing that we worked up to and now do every week is quick, but complete, submersions. We taught them a cue (“Ready, down!”) so they knew they are about to get water in their faces. It’s pretty cute and also amazing to see how quickly she learned to prep when she heard the cue.

Going into this class I knew I wouldn’t push anything if Dakota looked unhappy, but thus far she’s seemed pretty unperturbed by the dunkings. She sputters a little when she comes back up, but then she goes right back to looking around and/or chewing on whatever toy is in her hand.

Something new and exciting for this class was a little foam slide! I’m glad Dave was there to document the experience. The babies in the class range in age from Dakota (7 months) up to I believe an almost 2 year old. It’s pretty neat to see how much the older and more experienced kids love the slide. Dakota gets a lot of teacher assistance until she’s old enough to control herself:

I’m really enjoying the classes. Based on what I’ve heard from other moms, the experience is vastly improved by having a very knowledgeable and engaged instructor and a nice facility like the one we’re at. I think Dakota has the right disposition for it too, and I think since she was sitting up unassisted so early it worked out really well to have her start as early as she did. We’ve already signed up for the next session!