Swimming lesson update

Emma had her 3rd swimmnig lesson on Wednesday. It was somewhat better than last week, but still a fair amount of screaming was involved.

We talked all week long about following the teacher's directions. A motivation/reward we had agreed upon was a pair of swim goggles. She was very excited about going and earning those goggles. Also, we reminded her that if she didn't learn to swim, she would not be able to swim in Grandpa Frank's pond (not her actual grandpa...one of those special people who has earned the title in our house).

We arrived a few minutes early so she could have some time to just play in the water. She was having lots of fun splashing me and even let me splash her back. I thought this was a good sign.

The instructor started the class with blowing bubbles in the water. Emma is a pro at this and was happy to oblige. Then it came time to back float (with me holding her up). That is when the screaming began. "I don't want to go to Grandpa Frank's pond!! I don't want to get swim goggles!!" rang through the building. She clung to me with her strangely strong arms and was stiff as a board. More of the same came when it was time to front float.

Our one success was that she put on the floatation belt and jumped off the side into my arms several times (last week she wouldn't even put it on and would only jump off of the step in the shallow end of the pool).

After the lesson she asked when she would be getting her goggles, oblivious to the fact that she had just denounced them 20 minutes earlier! We decided we will wait and see how next week goes before she get her reward. She has 3 more weeks left and I am praying that I can live through it!