Just keep swimming ...

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a swimmer.

Well, kinda :)

After many months and dozens of heart-wrenching swim lessons, Elle graduated this summer from her Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) class.

Getting her trophy on graduation day!

She continued to go to classes once a week up until last month, though, because she likes floating a little too much and needs to learn how to swim-float-swim a bit more.

We learned about ISR earlier this year, when my company provided banners to the Swim Gym for their grand opening. I designed the banners and worked with one of the co-owners of the gym, and when they held their grand opening celebration Elle and I attended. Elle enjoyed the face painting and bounce house, pretty much oblivious to the actual ISR demonstrations that were going on.

At the open house.

We live in a condo and don't have a pool of our own, but there are two pools on the complex property as well as a pond right across our parking lot. Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children under the age of 4, and Florida is amongst the highest number of drownings. I'm a worrier, and since we had the opportunity to provide Elle with the skills to protect herself against one of life's potential risks, we took advantage of it and signed her up for classes. Elle isn't the most reckless toddler in the world, but we have come to realize that she's fearless.

I clearly remember coming to this realization on my 30th birthday, when we were at the zoo and Elle was playing in a splash park area. She ran all over the place, interacting with various children, gasping when she was blasted with water, enjoying the cool water on a hot day, but she never once looked for Tim or I. She wasn't concerned about knowing where we were, and she wasn't interested in listening to us. To a certain degree, it was fascinating to see her being so independent. But on another note, it was disconcerting to see her be so unaware of possible danger, both water-related and other.

After Memorial Day, Elle started attending ISR lessons. It was really probably the worst possible time for us to start her in them, and I think the poor timing contributed to emotional duress that followed as well as how long it took for Elle to "get it" and the need for her to continue with maintenance lessons. Every week day, Tim took Elle to the Swim Gym for a 10-minute lesson. Except for when the instructor was out sick. Then Elle was out sick. Then the instructor had a long weekend. Then the Swim Gym was closed for the week of July 4. Then Elle and Tim were in Ohio and missed half of two weeks of lessons. Most of the time she was in lessons consisted of half-week chunks, but Elle (and Amy, the instructor!) persevered, and Elle made AMAZING progress in the last three or four weeks.

Not the world's happiest camper, mid-way through her six-weeks of daily lessons.

I took a long lunch twice to see Elle during her lessons - once when she was about midway through, and then on the day she graduated from lessons. The first time I went, I was excited. I didn't stay excited for long - I was an emotional wreck when I saw how Elle was just not happy. I felt like we were forcing her to do something that she obviously didn't like - but I kept reminding myself that in the end, this was for her own good. It helped that nearly every other person I talked to who had a child that went through ISR lessons told me that their child(ren) had reacted the same way ... and eventually had come to love the water and the lessons. I kept waiting for that to happen with Elle. And eventually, it did.

Calm and floating like a champ on graduation day.

Mad, MAD props to my husband, who did so much to make sure she got to her lessons and had everything she needed for them, often having to take her straight to her babysitter right after the lesson. The Swim Gym is across town, and Tim drove there - usually with an unhappy Elle - every morning. Prior to her ISR lessons, I had daydreams of Elle and I going to weekly swim lessons at the YMCA, enjoying the water and splashing gleefully. Unicorns, puppy dogs and rainbows, pretty much. I was a tiny bit bitter and sad that I was missing out on the "swim lesson experience." But I'd heard Tim's version of "Elle hates this," and after seeing her that one time midway through her lessons, I couldn't help but be a little bit thankful that work kept me from taking her every day.

Elle had to follow dietary guidelines during her ISR lessons, including restrictions on several foods (all apple products being the most notable) and not being allowed to eat or drink anything two hours before her lesson. Tim had to fill out a log of her diet, sleep and bowel/urine outputs for the day before. He deserves a medal for all of this alone, but there were also days when Elle pooped in her swim diaper just before her lesson, or a day when another child vomited in the pool area and the mom of that child froze up - Tim got her paper towels and cleaned the mess up, all while Elle was in the pool for her lesson. Tim went above and beyond the call of duty for Elle and the ISR lessons, and I am so, so thankful for that.

In the waiting room before her lesson on graduation day.

For approximately the first four weeks of lessons, Elle refused to float. She didn't want to relax her body or trust that Amy would support her in her float. Elle would often sit on the stairs of the pool so she could "rest a little while." She didn't like to swim much, either, but it was preferable to floating. We practiced with her in our pool and decided that if she fell in a pool, we were screwed, because she wouldn't float. She'd sink. She could wriggle toward safety, but she didn't consistently remember to kick. Or paddle. So she was like a tail-less tadpole who wouldn't float.

But then, one day, she just started to float. Loved it. Excelled at it. And wouldn't stop. When I saw her on her graduation day, the first thing she asked Amy was "Float now?" Amy bargained with her, telling her she had to swim to the steps two times before she could float.

Elle obediently fulfilled that requirement, and then floated like it was her job for the majority of the lesson.

After that last lesson, I was ridiculously comforted by two things: 1) Elle was no longer a sinker! 2) Elle was happy - long gone was the anxiety, the fear, the tears. She was enjoying herself and was at ease in the pool.

Even after the additional lessons, Elle still doesn't turn like she's supposed to to complete the swim-float-swim sequence, but she's comfortable in the water, and most importantly, she's safe. She can easily get to a floating position and stay there.

Trophy time for graduates!