Three's a Crowd: Shark Bait Learns to Swim! (And other assorted tales)

Before summer started I was hunting for baby swim lessons. Tons of places offered them, but none of the spring class dates worked with our schedule. (Yeah yeah, I know I am a stay at home mom, but hese classes all fell during our NY trip, a family wedding, and our two weeks on the Rock). I was pretty bummed that I wouldn't be able to introduce Michael to swimming until we tossed him in the ocean. Luckily, our little crab cake was happy as a clam floating away in the Caribbean Sea. He even fell asleep in his floaty!

Once we returned from our island getaway, I resumed my swim class search. Thanks to my mom, we got signed up for the parent-tot beginners class at our YMCA! My mom is a teacher but runs the Y summer camp so she was able to get us in the class last minute!

Learning how to climb out of the pool

Playing in our first lesson!

Michael and I go every Saturday morning at 9am for 30-40 minutes. Michael is the youngest in the class; the other students are Avery (girl) 10 months, Amari (girl) 17 months, and Griffin 2yrs. It's really cute and fun. We start by jumping in; we sing Humpty Dumpty and at "had a great fall" we hop in the water! Then we practice kicking on our backs and bellies, blowing bubbles (so they don't drink the water, M is too young for the bubbles at this point), floating on our backs (we sing about being sleepy aligators, it's adorable), and practice putting our ears in the water. Finally we swim back to the wall and help the babies pull themselves out- first hands on the wall, elbow, elbow, knees, knees! Michael needs some help, but he's actually pretty good about getting up on the wall.

Michael's absolute favorite part about swim class is the rubber duck he gets to play with. Everyone gets a duck that the throw in the water, the babies jump in and swim to get the duck. I have to pry the duck out of Michael's hands and mouth and throw it. He definitely tries to get to the duck once he is in the water. He kicks and splashes with his hands trying to get the duck! Usually he grabs it when he is close enough, but he's come up sputtering the few times he tries to grab it with his mouth! The instructor was impressed with his swimming after the duck. She said he could be the next Michael Phelps. I can see it now, he's in the Olympic finals and he wins cause I threw a rubber duck in his lane!

Getting ready to jump in!

Kicking, kicking, kicking

Climbing out so we can do it all again!

Rob was able to come to one of the classes (he works some Saturdays), but hopefully he'll be able to come to more during the second session! Michael loved swimming with his daddy!

Rob is the tan guy, not the pale fat guy

Daddy helping Michael swim to Mommy. (It's hard to see, but there is a yellow smudge next to Michael's hand, that would be his beloved duck)

Besides swimming Michael has been rocking the developmental milestones! He's army crawling like a boss; he's all over the place investigating everything he can get his hands (and mouth) on. He also pulled himself up for the first time Saturday morning. I was still sleeping. What's that you ask? How do I know he pulled up if I was asleep? Because my son decided to pull himself up, over, and out of his crib... Crash. We were at my parents' house and the bassinet setting on his pack and play is pretty shallow. I heard the thump and my eyes flew open pretty much the same time the screaming started. Luckily he was just stunned and calmed down the second I picked him up. Oh Michael, you are your father's son.

Our food odyssey is going pretty well too. Michael is no longer vegetarian- he has added chicken and eggs to his tummy. Chicken he ate begrudgingly, but he seemed to like the eggs. Papaya, his first tropical fruit, seemed to confuse him; he'd take a bite, make a grossed out face, and then take another bite. This went on for about 10 minutes, then he tossed it all onto the floor. I think his favorite food this week was the flan, or perhaps the pancakes covered in maple syrup, that my dad gave him when I wasn't looking (or rather gave him while I was saying, don't give that to him). I suppose I shouldn't complain, my dad draws on my cat with marker when I'm not watching... At least Michael doesn't have a sharpie handle bar mustache.

Where's my side of bacon?

What's the best thing about my week? Easy, when Michael said Mama!!!!!!! Ok, ok, it was just indiscriminate babbling, it's not like he stood up, looked at me and said, "hello mother." But. still it was freakin' awesome!

Finally, in news unrelated to MY baby: my best friend, Mauri, had her baby, Ezra, premature in March. After a long road to getting big and strong he is finally coming home today!! I am so excited for her and her husband to bring their baby home! Good luck Mauri, Kevin, and Ezra!