Esme started swimming lessons last June as a birthday gift from Grandma Gini and she loved her first session - Littles 1. Because she was only 3, I wasn't surprised when after the first session they recommended that she take Littles 1 again. She was just learning and getting used to the idea of being in the water. But her second time in Littles 1 wasn't quite as good. She had two boys in the class and one of them was just unable to pay attention. He would splash and move all around the lane. He would grab the noodles and play with them when he wasn't supposed to (which isn't that big of a deal except when he would bonk Esme when it was her turn to swim). When she was floating on her back, he would tap her toes. Overall just very distracting for Esme. Other times the other kid in the class would cry and cry because he didn't want to be there. She also had a couple of breaks in there where she was sick one week or had time off for Halloween or Thanksgiving.
When they tested her to see if she could move up to Littles 2, she was still suffering a bit from a plugged nose and was not interested in putting her face in the water, a basic requirement for moving on. Plus, when she did actually get her face in the water, the before mentioned little boy would bonk her in the head with a noodle so she would take her face out of the water! We were told that she would have to take Littles 1 a third time, but they would watch her and if it seemed like she could move up, they'd move her.
At that point, Aaron suggested that we start taking her swimming on our own more. So Monday nights we can often be found at either the Maple Grove or the Monticello community centers in their pools. Esme has loved this and has gotten much more comfortable in the water. Plus, it's fun family time!
The last day of Littles one, I asked that someone watch her to see if she could move up to Littles 2. I didn't want to be the mom who requested that her kid move up when they didn't deserve it. I just felt like Esme could do better and they weren't seeing it because of what was happening in her particular class. Plus, I figured that in Littles 2, at least some of the kids who didn't want to be there wouldn't. After watching her, they said they didn't think she was ready but that they would agree to give it a try because on the first day the new instructor would test her anyway. If that instructor didn't think she was ready, we would have to go back to Littles 1. I thought that was fair.
Well... Esme showed up for Littles 2 and ROCKED it!!! Before class, I told the instructor that we were prepared to go back to Littles 1 if need be. Half way through the class her teacher, Christy, said "there is no way this child should be in Littles 1" because she was doing so well! Esme had so much fun during the class she couldn't wipe the smile off of her face and she was super sad when it was over. So many things were different. She really liked her new teacher (who obviously has children), there was only one other girl in the class and she's at about the same level as Esme, and now looking back I think Esme was probably a bit bored in the other class. She had been doing the same thing in class every week for over 20 weeks. This time she did a lot of new things and seemed happy to be challenged.
At the end of the class we visited with the teacher and she told us that she thought Esme was actually an Advanced Littles 2 and a lot of what we would be working on this session are things that she would be doing in Littles 3. Yes, Littles 3!!! Woot, woot!!!
So in celebration, I made a little video about her first lesson. For those of you that might be computer genius', you might not be that impressed. But I'm pretty dang impressed with myself for putting together my first real video. Enjoy!
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