First swimming lesson

A few days after enjoying his recent holiday where he spent lots of time in the sea and pool, we took Oliver for his first swimming lesson where neither Mummy nor Daddy were in the water. Instead we sat at poolside (very close in fact) along with Lucy and other parents.

Rather than have his usual arm bands they use three polystyrene hoops on each arm, allowing them to be taken away one by one over time I assume. Later Oliver told me they were rings from the fingers of a giant. Perhaps this ties in with his favourite water-based game while on holiday which involved me wading through waist deep water with Oliver on my back chasing a giant, only to deliberately trip up after a few paces, splashing us both into the water.

His first lesson was with two friends, Jack and Harry. Oliver has known Jack since they were both babies so he was completely comfortable about it. In fact, Harry got very upset at first so someone else gave him his lesson separately, leaving Jack and Oliver in a private lesson for two given by the owner herself. She did a great job and the boys both loved the lesson which involved lots of splashing, getting used to having their faces in the water, swimming after plastic toys and even swimming through a partially (in fact mostly) submerged hoop. Oh and at the end they had to jump in from the side: like that was going to be a problem!

I didn't go to today's (second) lesson, but Hayley assures me that Oliver had great fun again and at the end was the only one who would jump into the pool with no-one to catch him. What a little star.