Swimming Lessons

Last Friday, Jonas had his first swimming lesson! Nicole, a local swim teacher, was giving a private lesson to Ayden and her cousins (Ayden is the daughter of my high school friend, Yvette), and she asked to take Jonas in the pool for about 15 minutes. It was such a hot day, and he had a swim suit packed in the diaper bag, so how could I say no? The reality is that I had tried to introduce Jonas to a pool in my mom's back yard last week. She has one of those blow up pools that hold about a foot of water. After we got him all gussied up in his swim gear, I dipped his feet in the cold water and he screamed! Here are the after effects:

We took this picture with cousins Kerri Anna and Mia Renee' and their Aunt Jan. Can you believe I put my post-partum body into a swim suit? This is a testament to how hellaciously hot it is down here in the big swamp. I would rather BE cool than LOOK cool. Do not look too closely or you might become frightened. I keep my eyes slight averted and try not to think about it.

Well, of course he would scream at cold water. And I immediately felt like a terrible parent who tortured children. So I was feeling a bit insecure about the whole water thing, even though Jonas loves his bath time. Nicole's offer couldn't have come at a better time. She taught me some important things:

1) calm the baby by singing to him when you introduce him to the water
2) hold them under their arms with thumbs under their chin to keep their face out of the water
3) do not submerge their heads until after they've reached 3 mos of age; their ears just aren't ready for the water yet

As you can see, Jonas enjoyed this experience SO much more:
Thank you Nicole & Yvette!