Natalie's first day at Seal Swim School

We've done swim lessons before with Natalie, as you may recall. But this time, we decided to put her in the hands of the pros and signed her up at Seal Swim School. This is the type of program where parents don't get into the pool with the kids. In fact, we can't even go out TO the pool. The instructors come into the building and take the kids out to the pool (four children per class) while we moms and dads sit inside and take pictures through the windows. I commented to Johnathan that I felt very parental as we sat there watching her, overhearing conversations about potty training, napping and other subjects only interesting to people with kids under age 5.

How did Natalie do? I'm glad to say she did pretty well for her first time. She seemed a little bit confused at first and tried to come back inside, but the teacher (a young guy who should probably be nominated for sainthood) brought her into the pool. He took turns with each child, having him or her kick, float and go underwater. Natalie usually does what we call the "koala move" where she clings fiercely to our necks when we take her in the pool, but she did OK with the instructor. I mean, she didn't look happy all the time (as you can tell in the pictures), but she didn't cry like some of the other kids in her group. At the end, all the kids were supposed to hang onto a raft and practice their kicking, but Natalie climbed up on top and had the other kids do all the work while she got a ride.

Altogether, we were happy with her performance on her first day and she told us that she had fun. We'll be back every Saturday morning and are eager to see her swimming sklls improve.

Here are the pics!