swim lessons

August 3, 2008 - Sunday
Swim lessons and Preschool
So many of you know that the kids were in swim lessons. It is a little different from learning the backstroke. If you want to know more, go to ISR.com
It is the Infant Swimming Resource program and it is a survival course. Basically they learn what to do if they were to fall into a pool or jump in to get a toy or something. They learn how to flip over and float on their back for air as well as swim to an exit. It is TOTALLY amazing, I can't even explain it. Kids can start as early as 6 mos of age. It is so intense that a session is 5-6 weeks long, monday thru friday so imagine this, I have one week left and then by then, I would have been going to swim lessons for 12 weeks Monday thru Friday with four kids. That means, washing beach towels every day, marking down what the kids had to eat, when they ate, when they slept, when they took a piss, and when the had a poop. Also washing bathing suits and swim diapers, getting all of this packed everyday along with dry diapers and a change of clothes, packing a diaper bag, getting all four kids fed by a certain time because they can't eat two hours before their lesson, loading all four kids in the van, unloading all four kids, having to sit in the hot sun while the lessons went on, get the current students dressed once out of the pool while constantly fussing the other two to stay by me and stop touching other peoples' stuff, then load all four kids back into the van while they are by now tired and hungry and crying (where are my earplugs) and getting home, having to hurry and make lunch so I can stop getting screamed at and then putting them down for a nap. Okay so now that I have vented, I can not explain to you how glad I am that we did this for the kids. Roman has one week left, all the other kids have graduated so once this week is over, I will be home free, literally, I can actually have some days where I don't have to leave the house and we can all stay in our pjs all day if we want to. Doing this for the kids has already proved itself to be rewarding when we went to two pool parties last weekend and I didn't have to have an anxiety attack worrying about if the kids would fall into the pool when I wasn't looking. Not to mention, it is so much fun to have them in the pool swimming and they are so proud of themselves. Roman at 11mos and float on his back and when put in the pool face first and rolls over onto his back. Also, all of the kids hold their breath when underwater and if they do get water in their mouth, they spit it out and they don't swallow it. This will also be great when we go to the beach in Sept. I am proud that we did this for them because all of the effort and money is definitely worth it when you consider that it may potentially save their life one day. Just a side note, no one who has completed the ISR program has been a victim of drowning.
Okay so now onto preschool. Since we are finished with swim lessons for the two girls, they are now going to be going to preschool three days a week. Alice started last week and starts this week. I felt like at first that I was being mean for sending them somewhere when I am a stay at home mom and it is not necessary, but Mike and I talked about it and felt that they need some stimulation outside of the home, they are too bored here and as a result, they get into things and just don't know what to do with themselves. It is actually a great thing for them because they get to play with other kids, learn letters, numbers, songs, crafts, etc. Also once they turn three we are going to enroll them in an addtl program at preschool and someone will work with them one on one for 30 min, three days a week to learn numbers, letters, spanish, court, etc. I gotta confess, when Alice was gone three days last week, it was like a big weight was lifted off of me, I think it is healthy for both of us because she is the worse when it comes to not listening and being defiant so it will teach her better discipline and structure to be away as well as allow me to breath so I will have more patience when we are together. I fall in love all over again when she is gone and we are reunited. When I brought her on Friday, I hugged her and she said "I'll miss you" awww.