Back in April I received the local Parks and Rec pamphlet in the mail, and I started thinking about how I was going to keep Annabel occupied this summer. I flipped through the pages of all the available camps and classes, and I settled on swimming for her again. I want to tell you that I signed her up for six weeks of swimming because I want her to learn a valuable life-saving skill. In actuality, I have her in swimming so she’ll be exhausted by the end of the day. The life-saving skill thing is just a bonus.

For the first two weeks of her swimming classes, she took a group class for her age range. One of the three kids in her class dropped out after the first day, so Annie basically had a semi-private lesson. She thrived in that environment, and by the end of the class she was doing all kinds of advanced stuff. She had tremendous water confidence, and she looooooved swimming.

She wasn’t old enough for me to move her up to the next level, so I signed her up for private instruction (still with the Parks and Rec) to bridge the gap between ability groups. Those started this week and wow. Annie LOVES THEM. She loves her teacher, she loves getting 100% of the attention, she loves swimming, and most randomly, she loves wearing goggles. Or as she calls them, “Gobbles.”

Annie has had a thing for goggles ever since she went swimming a few months ago with my friend Helen’s daughters and they had them. She begs to wear goggles whenever we’re going swimming, and when I saw some of the older kids at the pool taking lessons with goggles on, I knew we were done for. Sure enough, Annie saw the kids wearing goggles and flipped out, begging to wear a pair.

Yesterday, her teacher surprised Annie with goggles. Annie was in heaven.

little miss goggles never stops talking
Why yes, she IS talking non-stop about how much she loves her “gobbles.”

I honestly thought Annie would hate the goggles after she tried them for a few minutes, but she absolutely loved them. They made a noticeable difference in Annie’s approach to the water. She told me later this was because “the gobbles make my eyes not hurt.” I’m a little worried that Annie will refuse to swim in the future without goggles, but her instructor told me the goggles won’t hurt her. Except for, you know, where they LITERALLY HURT HER:

post-goggles carnage!

These marks looked so much worse in person, and didn’t go away for almost TWO HOURS. It made going out in public with her…interesting.

The private lessons have proven to be a great idea after only two sessions. Annie is already swimming unassisted for a few feet at a time, and at this rate she’ll be really and truly swimming by the end of the summer.

jump!

And you know what else? She is napping and getting tons of sleep at night. SUCCESS IS MINE!