We signed Quincy up for swimming lessons at the pool here in Hampden. It was built just a little over 10 years ago and we had heard great things about the facility. Since Quincy loves bath time so much, we figured he’d like a pool. His first lesson was this past Saturday, June 23rd at 10am.
We were a bit surprised that we were the only people waiting for the 10am lesson – it was, after all, the very beginners class. The pool has a graduated entry, so Quincy was able to walk right on down into the water. He seemed happy until the water got higher, and higher, and higher. Mom (the designated swimmer’s assistant) had to pick him up and bring him over to the area of the pool where the class was to be held (the water there was four feet deep there).
I should point out that the person leading the class wasn’t the usual person and she was about 17 years old or so. It was a little awkward at first because she had totally unrealistic expectations of what Quincy was able to do. For instance, he can’t hold a kickboard and use it – even I knew that one. Once things got going, Quincy no longer clung to Dara. His favorite part was when the “teacher” put a bunch of plastic balls in the water. Quincy loves balls – so he would try and get them – it was fun to watch. In fact, you can too! There is a video clip of him fetching balls in the water. I cut the audio for file size sake and there wasn’t anything good to here anyways.
After the structured lesson was over, Quincy had about 7 minutes of free time in the pool to use the small water slide or do whatever he wanted. He liked the slide somewhat and he liked walking out of the water and then walking back down into it. The last time he walked into the water, he slipped and, sploosh, he was gone. Dara picked him up, he sputtered for a second or two and then wanted to keep playing, but the lesson was over. He was upset when it was time to leave so we deemed the swimming a great success. Next week – the backstroke!
There is a photo gallery of 6 pictures – some of the pool and some of Quincy and Dara in the water.