Learning to Swim Kinda Sorta Not Really

We took the kids to the pool last week.  When Kenzie started jumping in the pool and then telling us to “go away”, we decided it was time to put her in swim lessons. 

I took her for the first time today.  I knew it would be a long 30 minutes when I she didn’t want to join the rest of the group because she was busy playing.  She shuns conformity.  And pants.  Sometimes she shuns pants.

She also refused to blow bubbles even though she does it without problems every time we go to the pool.  I guess she just doesn’t like the man telling her what to do.  Even when the man is a very nice teenage girl.

When she became loud and disruptive, the instructor gave her a dolphin toy to play with.  Kenzie repaid her for her kindness by not participating in the “let’s make our hands into ice-cream scoops” portion of the lesson and instead continuing to play with her toy, splashing me and the people around us, and in general acting like a jerk.

Then came time for the kids to jump in the pool.  Finally, an activity she could get behind.  Until she got tired of it, that is, and decided to run off down the length of the pool.  The other more obedient children stopped what they were doing to watch her and for a moment, I thought she was going to start a toddler revolution.  I expected her at any moment to yell “Swim school is a farce!  They are trying to drown you!  Follow me if you want to live!  Or if you want chocolate milk because I can totally reach the chocolate milk in the café.”  She didn’t, but it turns out yelling, “You are being a bad influence!” at a 2-year old is not a deterrent to continued bad behavior.

We ended the lesson with her not wanting to get out of the pool.  As we were walking back to the locker room, we passed the lap pool.

“Wanna go in there.” she told me.

“You can’t go in there.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s deep and you can’t swim.”

“Oh.”

Maybe now she will realize why swim lessons are important.  Maybe she will stop taking her pants of randomly throughout the day or yelling about bacon.  They all have about the same chance of happening.

Taken last summer.  Since she now likes to jump in the pool without regard to her ability to swim, I have not had the energy to take a more recent picture.