Swimming without Sharks

Since he was just a baby Alex has loved the water. In fact, when he was a baby and toddler we did an infant/baby swim program and he learned how to swim. He's never been afraid of the water and loves to swim and splash around. One summer he was swimming and then last summer, he seemed to have lost swimming skills and become a big sinker. He needed to wear floaties again and I really was afraid he was going to drown in our neighbor's pool.  My husband encouraged him to be independent (I would have had the kid in a life jacket and everything else!) and he was right.  With practice he was swimming by the end of the summer  so when we vacationed in September he was "a swimmer". 

This summer we've gone to the beach and swam with friends a lot. He's happiest when he's swimming and with this heat, its been the only way to stay cool and still be outside. However there's been a lot of reports of sharks lately swimming in close to the shore which has made me more nervous about the beach - not like that has stopped the kids.

I put Alex into swimming lessons through the Brick Challenger program so he's been swimming 3 times a week for the past 2 weeks.   The ratio of instructors to kids is awesome - practically 1 on 1, sometimes 1 on 2 or 3 (depending on the kids skills).   Alex swims but he can't seem to float. He sinks.  They have been working on getting him floating and also developing his strokes so he swims that way instead of treading water or a dog paddle.  The interesting thing is that he swims under water pretty good and he loves to go under water.  I am not an underwater person - but he is all about diving down into the water to find rings and toys that they throw into the water for the kids to retrieve. 

The lessons have helped him immensely and I feel like we are crossing one more thing off of the cannot list.

Alex can swim.

Related Posts:
Swimming in Winter
Swimming Pool Progress Report