Swimming Lessons

We have quite the little fish on our hands. Swim lessons are twice a week for about 4-5 weeks. It doesn't sound like much, but geez, it is quite the process. Pack the bags (one for Cooper and one for dad) with a towel, swimsuit and a change of clothes. Drive down to the YMCA and find a parking space (walk in the cold--in the winter anyway). Meet up with Daddy. Get to the locker room and manage to get Cooper in his swim trunks. Repack the bag so that the towel is easily accessible after class. Cody and Cooper swim for 30 minutes. This part is really great--I get to sit back and watch both of them have fun practicing paddling, kicking, and blowing bubbles! Grab a soaking wet Cooper from the pool while trying to keep myself dry (rarely happens). Get Cooper into the locker room to rinse off while trying to keep myself dry (again, rarely happens). Get Cooper out of his wet trunks/diaper and into his PJ's. That last part with the pj's, sounds easy, right? No way! For some reason Cooper thinks this is cry time. I think he gets too cold waiting to get dressed. Meet back up with Daddy outside the locker room. Walk in the cold back to the car. Drive home. In all, it's about 1 hr. 30 min. for a 30 minute class!

Now, that was for when Cody is swimming with Cooper. Ponder what it would be like when Cody is out of town and unable to go to swim lessons....Yes, it is that bad. That means I have to do double duty--getting Cooper's trunks on and mine--while watching him in a dirty, wet locker room. To put it into perspective, let me tell you a little story. One time, when Cody wasn't in town, I took Cooper to swim lessons. Before class, when we were getting ready, Cooper got himself stuck in a locker and then pinched his finger trying to close it. I could feel all the moms looking at me wondering what the heck I was doing. During swim lessons, I forget to pay attention to where Cooper's head was and let him swallow quite a bit of water--which caused him to start bawling. Then, after class was the worst. I was already feeling like Mom the Super Idiot when Cooper slipped on the wet floor, slammed his face into a stool and started screaming. I picked him up immediately and thought it would be okay...until the blood started pouring. What was I supposed to do? Nobody helped me. They all just sat there and stared! Needless to say, this was not the best "mom" moment for me.

Besides all of this, it is very worth it to take Cooper to swim lessons. During the last session of lessons (September), I could tell that Cooper really advanced his swimming skills. He learned how to blow bubbles in the water and now he blows bubbles during bath time, too!