Swish, Swish, Swish

"The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish!"

Last week, Xander was busy crying, and mom and dad were busy trying to comfort him, so neither heard the second verse of the ever popular "Wheels On The Bus," a song parents sing to their children to help them get used to the water. On the first verse, you twirl the children round and round, just like the wheels. For "swish, swish, swish," you rotate them sideways, dipping one arm into the water, and then the other. For the third verse, "windows go up and down," you bop your toddler up and down, though no complete dunking. Finally, for the "doors go open and shut," you push them out away from you, and then pull them back towards you, ending with a big hug. This week, Xander got to experience this fun song/game, because he wasn't crying to beat the band the entire time.

Whether it was becoming more familiar with the pool, or that he wasn't as crabby from being woken up from his nap, or that dad wasn't rushing around like he was last week, or that he wasn't as cold because he got to keep on his swim t-shirt, or just good old-fashioned peer pressure, Xander took the water with a vengeance this week. It was probably a combination of factors, but the largest factor seems to have been peer pressure.

At the start, the parents brushed water over the toddlers' feet and legs and arms, same as last week, and Xander didn't like it right away, as the water was much colder than the week before. So the instructor had the parents go slow, getting the kids used to the water's temperature a little longer before putting them in. For most of this time, Xander was watching the other boy in the class. Since he is about a year older than Xander, he was ready to get in the water a little sooner. And when Xander saw this boy dipped into the pool, and then brought back up to the side for what the instructor calls "sit-jumps," you could see a touch of envy forming in his eyes. "Hey, I want to play too," he seemed to be saying. Dad took this as his opportunity, and began plopping Xander into the water. So far, so good. The other boy would go, then Xander would go. Now he was liking it.

By the time "Wheels On The Bus" started a couple of minutes later, he was having a grand ole time. And by the end of the 30-minute lesson, almost of all it spent in the water (except for the part where he surfed down the pool on top of a big, styrofoam turtle mat) he was kicking, and even splashing. Xander may like this swimming thing yet!