Sweet Swimming Girl

Recently, Lola began doing things at her swim class that resembles actual swimming. I don't know if its because we recently enrolled her in ballet and she now has two different people teaching her what "straight legs and pointed toes" means, or if she has figured out that I was going to stop paying for lessons if she didn't start cooperating soon.  Regardless, she is listening, and following directions, and not arguing. 

I think 4 might be my new favorite age.

Her Own Pace

At her Saturday morning swim class, Lola was promoted from being a Starfish (Level 1) to a Turtle (Level 2). I am writing about this not to brag about her possibility as an Olympic hopeful, but to provide evidence that when I say, Lola is a spirited (i.e. difficult) child, you don't just silently nod and think, uh-huh, I don't know what you are talking about, she's so cute when she's playing with her dolls. 

See, to progress from Level 1 to Level 2, the primary skill that must be demonstrated is the ability to voluntarily submerge your head under water.  The key word here is voluntary.  Meaning, for the last year and a half, when Lola attend her lesson and the instructor would sing, "Okaaaay. Time to do your bobs!" (swim talk for, Go under water!), Lola would stare down her instructor, and say, "No." 

Since this swim school is all about making kids comfortable and allowing them to move at their own pace, the instructor has accepted the No, and has then worked with her on other skills like back floats.

Then this week, at during her 78th lesson, for whatever reason, Lola said, yes, and voluntarily submerged herself under water. After her lesson she was allowed to ring the pool deck bell once (for passing Level 1) and she received a certificate.

I have no idea how long it will take her to progress to the next level, since it is clear that Lola does what Lola wants, but let's just say that I have adjusted my expectations and I am hoping that she learns to swim by the time she is 12. 

Little Coach

Lola's independent swim classes have been going 100 times better than I could have ever dreamed. As of today, she's only had two lessons total, but at none of them has she thrown a tantrum or begged to get out of the pool like she did for the 10 months that we participated in the Parent-and-Tot class.

In fact, at one lesson, I even caught her smiling at her coach. She didn't let her coach see her smile, but she also didn't spend 30 minutes glaring at her.

SUCCESS!

Overall, her demeanor has been pleasant, and generally cooperative.  It just goes to show that I should have quit Parent-and-Tot a long time ago because its now clear that she does much better when I'm out of the pool. Remind me of this when I volunteer to be her rec league soccer coach.

Back to the swim class.
One of the techniques that she is working on is floating on her back. Lola HATES the back float. Whenever her coach tries to hold her on her back, Lola usually squirm and gets super stiff, and refuses to relax and lay her head back on her coach's shoulder. Her coach will say, "Trust me" about 15 times and then on time number 16, Lola will try to lay her head back and look at the ceiling.

Lola might have some control issues, no?

Anyway, all issues aside, last week after her swim class, we were at home and Lola and Elliott were playing in the fire engine that Josh constructed out of a shipping box. The kids were being very quiet, and when we peeked into the hallway to see what they were doing, we saw this

and Lola said, "I told Elliott to 'Trust me!'"

Dude. I can not make this up.

Lola.
On the way to swim class.
In the outfit she selected.
(Yes, those are crab goggles.)

Truce

As you may or may not know, Josh and I have different perspectives on Lola's potential participation in organized activities.

That sentence seriously sounds like my kid is going to be a crime boss.

In fact, we've had countless arguments over what sort of extracurricular activities Lola will or will not participate in. Our agreed upon rule: Once she is old enough to voice her opinion, she can do whatever she likes, so long as she is in a safe environment.

The problem is, she hasn't figured out what she likes quite yet.

For a long time, I advocated signing her up for a Parent-Tot gymnastics class. I used to teach those sort of classes at the local community center, and I loved them. The babies and toddlers were so adorable and they all loved to hang on the bars, attempt to walk across the balance beam, and play parachute at the conclusion of each class.

Josh hates gymnastics.

He believes it provides a platform for body issues and injuries, as well as those squeaky voices that only Olympic gymnasts seem to possess (Thanks a lot, Mary Lou Retton.)

I worked long and hard to convince him of all the benefits, but didn't really get very far. Also, the fact that all the Parent-Tot classes in our area were on weekdays, and thus, Josh would have to take her to these classes, which he refused to do, didn't help my case.

Finally, I decided to take matters into my own hands. Without discussing the matter with Josh, I signed Lola up for a swim class.

Each Saturday morning, Lola and I spend a half an hour at the pool. She LOVES it. She talks about her swim classes all week long in anticipation of that little half an hour. During her class, there are classes for older children taking place in the same pool, and recently, Lola has become obsessed with their swim goggles.

After a week of her saying, "I need goggles." (Yes, she did say that.) I bought her some at Target, and for the past three days, she has worn them everywhere.

In the bathtub (of course.)



With her pajamas.





And even when she wants to snuggle.



I think swim is something she likes, and Josh likes it too. I think we have a winner.

Auntie LouLou

Last month, my mom and sister came into town to visit Lola.

This trip was special because while our family was in town, Josh and I ran away to Lake Tahoe for a night. I wasn't worried about Lola's well being in our absence, but I was a little concerned about the state of her hair.

See, once, when Archie was a puppy, I left him in the care of Auntie LouLou and when I returned from my trip, the tip of his tail was dyed blue. It was cute, but Archie wore a sullen look for eight weeks as it transformed from blue to gray and finally back to white. It was a very tramatic event for him.

My reason for concern stemmed from the fact that Lola still hasn't had her first haircut. My sister is a professional stylist. She has talked about Lola's first haircut since this kid was womb-bound. And right now, Lola's hair is in a bit of a disarray as her bangs aren't completely grown out and she has these wild curls. (Please see photos in post below.)

I don't think I need to say this, but I will: I was terrified that I'd return to a toddler with a short blonde straight bob, running around with a cordless flat-iron.

When we returned, all of Lola's curls were intact. But, that doesn't mean it won't happen in the future...




(Auntie LouLou joining us at our infamous community pool.)

A few more Fullerton photos

Rachel sent me these photos.

I love them.

Umbrella Swimming

Did you know that babies under six months of age aren't allowed to wear sunscreen?

This is one of those things that I never knew until I became pregnant and starting neurotically researching infants. Supposedly, the restriction has something to do with sunscreen containing toxic chemicals and a baby's inability to regulate those chemicals. Until the little babe becomes six months old, our doctor instructed us to keep her out of the sun.

But, of course, we have to take her in the pool.

When we were down in Fullerton, Rachel had a genius idea.



Brilliant!

Rachel helped Lola "fly" up and down. I love how Lola focuses in this photo:

Seriously, Lola LOVED the water. We could have spent all day out there, so long as we had some shade.

This photo made the cut because, well, it's just so darn sweet.

Her First Trip to the Pool

This past week we had some family up to visit. Being that this week was also the first week of summer, the temperature rose and we escaped to our local community pool for some relief.


Yeah, that's our local pool. The pool actually has four pools: a large Olympic size lap pool (pictured above), a kiddie instructional pool, a pool that contains a water slide, and a pool that houses a crazy water play structure thing.

Lola with her Aunt Andrea

Really, this place is amazing. I think the thing that blows me away the most is that it only costs $6 for all-day admission. This place puts the Allied Gardens pool to shame.

And that giant inflatable obstacle course thing? There were actually two of those things. One was called "The New Zealand Beast" and the other was "The Kiwi." Apparently they were "on tour" and going to be at our pool for a few weeks. It's like having Nija Warrior in your own backyard.

For Lola, this was her first time in a pool. We weren't quite sure how she would react to being in the water. I was slightly nervous that upon entry into the water she would start wildly screaming. So, Josh (and the beard) took her in and I snapped some photos.


She was obsessed with watching the water. Obsessed. I took 39 photos of her while they were in the water and this was the closest one with her somewhat looking in the direction of the camera.


There was no screaming. Just amazement. She splashed a little bit and watched the other kids. She seemed to enjoy herself.

After she came out of the water, we hung out on the blanket and she attempted to stick her entire fist inside of her mouth.



Eventually, she took a nap, but only after some coaxing from her Aunt Andrea.


I have a feeling that we will be visiting the pool again very soon.