Evan the Seal (and Climber!)

After soccer ended this past fall, we got Evan back into swimming lessons.  We enrolled him in Seals, the level where he'd left off last summer.  It was the level that was most challenging for him because he needed to learn how to swim from one side of the pool to the other without touching the bottom.  To do this, they taught him to swim on his stomach until he needed to breath.  Then, roll to his back and back float or swim on his back a bit, and then roll back to his stomach, and so forth.

It took Evan a few sessions to learn how to do the rolling from front to back, but even longer for him to gain confidence to not touch the bottom of the pool.  However, I am so proud to say that this finally clicked one lesson for Evan this past month, and now he successfully passed Seals!

Video of Evan practicing rolling from front to back in the pool: Evan water rolls

Video compilation of the first time Evan swam from one side to the other without touching (via John's Facebook): Evan's gonna pass Seals!

The first few classes of this session he was actually telling us he didn't want to go to swimming lessons anymore.  He told me he was afraid of sinking.  Poor guy.  First time I'd heard him express some fears about swimming since we started.  However, we kept encouraging him to go, and then one class he just did it!  He swam from one side to the other and did great!  I think it's helped that he's finally figuring out how to actually swim too, meaning he doesn't just float but he moves.  For the longest time, he'd kick and maybe move his hands a bit, but didn't go anywhere because his kicking techniques in particular were not productive other than making him tired.  However, this past session he learned how to really swim on his back and make progress and do the same on his front.

And, about a week ago when we were at the pool swimming as a family for fun, he showed us that he'd just learned how to do backward somersaults underwater, and then he proceeded to do front somersaults under the water too!  In fact, that same day at the pool, Emma also went down the big tube slide with John for the first time, and then (after we swam) Evan climbed the climbing wall at the rec center for his first time too.  It was a big day of firsts for both my kids!

Look at that proud Daddy! :)

Anyway, I can't express how proud I am of my boy!  The only downside to him passing Seals now is that he's actually not old enough to go into the next level.  Seals is the highest level currently available in the preschool swimming lessons series.  Next up is the Blast series, and his report card said to enroll him in Beginning Blast, however he must be 5 years old to do that.  We asked about an override, but were told they are rarely given.  So, we just enrolled him in Seals one more time for this next month, then he'll get more swimming practice to hone his skills he's recently gained.  And after that he'll get plenty of swimming practice in his Nanna's pool too I'm sure.  In fact, when we started Evan in swimming lessons last year, that was my goal: for him to be able to swim the next time we went to Nanna's house.  Way to go big boy!