schvim schvim schvim

Liza started her swim lessons last month, and I wanted to talk about it then, but I didn't want to jinx it. Because despite her initial insistence that putting her face in the water was totally not necessary to learn to swim, and the fact that I had to bribe her with trips to the Dollar Store afterwards to get her to put on her swimsuit in the first place, Liza loved the classes. She loved the teachers, she loved the water, and she even got used to putting her face in the water. By the time she was done with two weeks of lessons (four times a week), she was able to swim in our friends' pool with only a pool noodle under her stomach to keep her legs from sinking. And she was willing to do a bob (after some cajoling).

Liza was doing so well that when I swam with her for practice, I felt guilty about wearing my own goggles. So I've been gritting my teeth and swimming without them, and without holding my nose nearly as much as I'd like to. I've been splashed in the face by other kids, dunked under water by a four-year-old, and choked on chlorine more often than I'd like to admit. But if Liza can man up, so can I. At least for this summer.

She had two weeks off between swimming class sessions, and she started up again on the 13th of this month. And again, I didn't want to jinx it, so I've kept quiet about her progress this whole time. But now that the lessons are over, I can officially say, "Oh my preshus baby can sort of swim with her face in the water and she did 8 bobs in a row and she jumps into the pool with such vigor that I have to stand midway in the second lane from the side in order to catch her without her jumping clear over my head!"

We celebrated her last day of swim class on Thursday. Jason took the day off from work to come see her lesson, and afterwards we all swam at the pool's open swim time. And Liza actually did a sit dive and swam unassisted for several feet before I caught her. About 20 times in a row. And she jumped off the side and let us get her face in the water. About 100 times in a row. And she did bobs. And I couldn't have been prouder.