Monday, November 12, 2007

There's Nothing Hotter ...

Than me, at 18.5 weeks pregnant, and totally showing, in a bright blue maternity bathing suit at the public pool.
Seriously.
My lovely new hairstyle nor the fact that I haven't gained tons of weight this pregnancy didn't help this look one little bit!
Matthew just finished 10 weeks of swimming lessons at daycare and has been enjoying his swimming lessons immensely. He asked me to go swimming with him. So, out came my stunning blue bathing suit (which matches his bathing suit), and off we went to the public pool.
Actually, it was a lot of fun.
The thing about swimming with a preschooler is that you can't exactly dwell on your own appearance when you're trying really hard to keep up in the pool.
And, it's a lot easier to float after a 3 year old than run after a 3 year old.
I was pleasantly surprised at how much he has learned in this recent series of swimming lessons. Because he goes to his lessons during the day, I don't get the opportunity to watch and see what he is doing. I just pay the fees and the daycar teachers bring him to the pool (where he is taught by proper swimming teachers). I mostly only hear if he is listening well or not, and whether he put his head under the water.
So, it was pretty neat to observe.
The first interesting thing was that he loves using the flutter board. He went right for it and hopped on and started kicking. He was really moving. He was also able to sort of swim on his back, and had no fear about going down the little slide and landing in the water and putting his head under.
In fact, he went on the slide about 20 times.
I was really proud.
He's always enjoyed the water, but now he's confident.
It's not like I would EVER take my eye off him, but I am finally feeling a lot less nervous. I know drowning statistics and they terrify me. But, I could see that he is finally getting strong enough to sort of keep his head above water. I'm seeing that if I turn my head for one second he actually has enough resources to paddle for a second. He knows to keep his mouth shut in the water, and has learned to blow bubbles.
One of my greatest joys growing up was swimming. We had a pool, and I was a very confident swimmer. I've often wondered how I'll let Matthew be a confident swimmer when I'm terrified of letting his hand go for even a millisecond.
Today I had some peace about it. Don't get me wrong. I'm ADAMENT that my child is always safe in the water. But being safe isn't just about me hovering. It's about giving him the tools and teaching him to swim, and I'm finally seeing that all these lessons are finally paying off.

And ...

Before Bill (very few layers)



















After Bill - still long, just more layered (ps this was hours after)



















What do you think?

Thanks for your input. I went with the flat black boot. He was impressed.

8 comments:

SciFi Dad said...

That's awesome that Matthew loves swimming, and that you were willing to go with him, even pregnant. It must have been a cool experience, the weightlessness effect of swimming.

Multi-tasking Mommy said...

LOVE the hair! Looks beautiful.

We went swimming on Friday--hmmmm maybe I'll post about it tomorrow!

AndreAnna said...

Oooooh, the hair is great!!

And I loved swimming too and hope my kids will too!

Anonymous said...

The Happy Boy HATES our saturday afternoon swim classes. I don't know how to fix it, either. But The Weed loves them.

I don't get kids.

I loved swimming when I was pregnant. I took a prenatal aquafit class...it was amazing!!

Amy said...

Loving the hair!!!
Glad you had fun!

Urban Daddy said...

Oddly enough I have visions of both our kids swimming happily and confidently in a pool, lake, etc. I also see them waering bright blue matching bathing suits with layered hair... No... Wait... That was you. Oops...

Cute story. Nice hair-style. :)

Mighty Morphin' Mama said...

You are looking pretty gorgeous!
Sounds like the swimming lessons are doing their job and you have many more fun pool experiences ahead of you:)

Mandy said...

Your hair looks great!