Bathing Beauty

This Saturday Virginia took her first swim lesson. We signed her up for casual drop-in "Tadpole" lessons offered at the indoor pool at Mariner Square Athletic Club. After her morning nap, we hustled her over there and fitted her out in a wetsuit and baby bathing cap. She looked like a bathing beauty from the 1920s.

With little fanfare she was lowered into my arms in the pool. Virginia's immediate reaction? Not amused. The pool room was loud and echoey, the water was deep, and there were a lot of strange faces around. For a moment Virginia put on a brave face, but suddenly her little lower lip stuck out and the tears began flowing.

After a while in the water, though, Virginia got her bearings. We swam over to the rail and picked up a few water toys, which Virginia seized on as though they were pieces of driftwood from a sinking ship. We swam a few laps together by ourselves. After a time, she eventually saw that this was really not all that different from bath time after all, and she began kicking along and blowing raspberries.

Looking forward to next week!