Little Guy's Swim Lessons with associated amusements

 

This summer we finally started the little guy on swim lessons.

Monday was the first day.  The irony of having a teenage brother is that there's an excellent chance your swim instructor at the local aquatic center is right around his age, goes to school with him and knows him. Sure enough, Teenager informed me that little guy's swim teacher was in fact in one of his classes.

We've completed day three of lessons and so far, so good. It looks like he's quite comfortable in the water and is taking to learning the basics pretty well overall. We've had a bit of a challenge with him not wanting to get his ears wet, so we tried kids silicone earplugs which seemed to help.

The first day I was not prepared for a total lack of any shaded areas to sit. I'm not one to stay in direct sunlight for any length of time so I knew this was going to be a problem. So, since yesterday my solution is to haul in my folding chair and attaching umbrella. Apparently this embarrasses Teenager. I guess when your mom is pushing a stroller with your toddler brother that also contains folding chair and umbrella bags sticking out the side and then proceeds to set up said chair & umbrella combo poolside it's a spectacle you don't want to be associated with. It only gets worse when it's discovered that the sun is in exactly the perfect spot for the umbrella not to work as made, therefore it must be jimmy-rigged onto the side of the stroller and held in place by your sun-sensitive mother.

So to re-cap, I've provided swim lessons for the toddler, protection from skin cancer and embarrassment for Teenager. I'd say that's quite an accomplishment combo.