Swim Lessons

Arabella has been doing great with her swimming! She will be in the same level for her next session that starts in April. Mommy is so proud of you Arabella, you have been working so hard and have come a long way. Keep it up!!


Swinging...this would never happen in the States!
Arabella and her friend Cristina before they were spun around!

Little Swimmer

Arabella did great in her latest swim lesson session! She had a lot of fun and looked forward to being in class with one of her best friends, Cristina. She is working hard and doing so good - keep up the great work Arabella!!

Moving On Up

Last Thursday was Arabella's last swim lesson for the Summer at our pool. It is bittersweet to see Summer coming to an end and knowing that the cooler Fall weather will be here before we know it! It also means that in a little over 2 weeks, my Little Bean will be starting pre-school...I can only imagine how emotional I am going to be that day! But back to swim lessons - she did great this summer! She loved both of her teachers and had a great time in class. She looked forward to going everyday and worked really, really hard. She was determined to swim without her bubble no matter what! Both of her teachers were great, but I have to say that she seemed to thrive under her teacher this session, Emilio. She couldn't wait to jump in the pool when her lessons started, my guess is that he made it seem fun and that is what it takes to get kids to learn. So when she got her report card on Thursday after her class, I was surprised and very happy to see that over the past 3 weeks, her determination and hard work has paid off! Goodbye White Level, Hello Yellow!

She has the backfloat/starfish down! Look at that smile!
Kicking and going for a ride!
And a great big hug for Emilio!!

Scenes of Summer

We have been keeping busy and enjoying all the great sunny weather this past week. Arabella has been loving her swim lessons and she loves her teacher, Emilio. She is doing great - this is the last week of session 3 so we will see if she gets to move up a level or not.
Practising her "starfish" a/k/a back float.

We are starting to enjoy the fruits of our garden. Arabella loves to pick the grape tomato's right off the plant and eat them! We have a lot of green ones on the plants so there will be more coming along soon...YUM!

My little chipmunk with cheeks full of tomato's!

Yesterday, we went to a Birthday Party in the park for Ella who turned 1! It was the perfect day to celebrate in the park. Everyone had a great day and all the kids had fun playing and splashing in the water. Happy 1st Birthday Ella!








And after the party and a cat nap, Arabella and Dad went looking for worms. I am not sure why, but they were!


And since we try to get in as much outside time as possible, we have been enjoying our dinner on the patio. And I love that the plate in front of Arabella is full of fresh fruits and veggies...not junk going on there!

Open Letter To Mom's At Our Pool

I wouldn't normally rant like this...but since what I witnessed at the pool this morning during Arabella's swim class has been bothering me since, this might help to get it off me chest! I do however want to preface this by saying that I am not trying to tell this parent how to handle their child, but rather I am speaking from experience - I was a life guard and swim instructor for many years.

Dear Mom at the Pool -

When your child is screaming and clutching onto you do you think you should just drop her in the pool for her swim lesson? As she is clawing into your leg, isn't she trying to tell you something? You child was mortified and scared to death to be in the pool. Didn't her screams for "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" for 20 straight minutes in between the scream get to you? You daughter was beet red and hyperventilating, yet you made the instructor take her? Do you not see that this will only make her more scared? It seemed that you were alright with this behavior...I was not. I was scared and concerned for your child as well as my own.

Did you think that by walking from one end of the pool to the other as the class was taking place would make her stop crying? It didn't. Did you think that sending Dad to get the stuffed animal would make her feel better? I didn't see any change in the crying. Did you think that allowing her to take the stuffed animal into the pool with her would help? Nope, it was just one more thing that the instructor had to pay attention to during the class. I could go on with the behavior that I witnessed, but is it important? Not really. What is important is your child was asking, no, begging for you to comfort her and to help her. But you ignored it.

By having a child that is out of control - screaming and thrashing about in the water - made it unsafe for my child and yours and the rest of the children in the class and pool. The instructors are there to teach our children how to swim, not try to calm them down for 20 minutes. I would imagine the screaming child is and was a distraction for the other life guards who were on duty watching over the pool. I know that when I was guarding, when I heard screaming and/or crying, my attention would automatically be focused on that rather than what was going on in the pool under my watch.

Please, don't force your child to take swim lessons. Next time stay with them at as they sit on the edge of the pool and watch the class. Let them ease into it. By forcing her, you could have made her forever scared of the water. I realize it is important for children to realize and face their fears - but what happened today tortured me as I watched. And you risked the safety of my daughter today. My daughter was also concerned for your child and her swim class today was not beneficial...that is one swim lesson that she won't get back. It was a missed opportunity for my child. Please don't be so inconsiderate.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Mom

PS - On another pool related topic...can you all please teach your kids to share and not be mean??? It breaks my heart when my sweet daughter ask "Can I please play with you?" only to get a nasty response back of "No!" Seriously, what happened to manners? All this behavior makes me want to join a different pool next summer...

Now, I feel better.

Swim Lesson Update

Arabella has been kicking butt in her swim lessons! So much so that she really doesn't need her swim bubble anymore and there is only one thing keeping her from moving to the next level in her swim classes. Our pool uses the Olympic Way swimming program to teach kids to swim. I really like it and it is not too different from the program that I used when I was teaching swim lessons at the Y in high school. This last session was 3 weeks long and 4 days a week. She worked really hard on her starfish back float and swimming while blowing bubbles. Her teacher, Elana even told her on her report card to "Keep on trying to swim all by yourself, one day you'll be a swim star!" There is only on thing holding her back in the White level - she needs to be able to swim forward using her arms for 12 meters (or one width of the pool). Her new 3 week session starts tomorrow and I know she is very excited to start!
Swim class fun...she is on the mat right next to the instructor with the great tan!

Trying To Beat The Heat

Yesterday, the weather here was unbearable. So hot and humid and there was a lot of smog. It really was hard to breathe and even Arabella didn't want to spend too much time outside, which is an oddity. Last night after dinner, we decided to get in some pool time before Arabella went to bed and I went to hit the books again. However, Mother Nature had other plans...right as we were walking into the pool, I heard thunder in the distance and immediately thereafter the shrill of the whistle and the lifeguards clearing the pool. It was hard to try and explain to Arabella why the pool was empty and all everyone was just standing around. All she wanted to do was jump in and cool off. And after making the very short walk, that is all I wanted to do to, the sweat was just rolling down my back, YUCK! So we waited a few minutes, the pool was still closed and in our desperation Jay and Arabella cooled off this way:

Swimming with Dad

Arabella and Jay had some fun in the pool the past few weekends. It has been warm here so it has been nice to be able to just take a short walk and then jump in the pool. Surprisingly, the few times in the evening that we have gone, it has been almost empty, which is a huge change from when we are at the pool in the morning for swim lessons! It is nice to have such a large pool all to ourselves! Arabella has been doing great in her swim lessons and can swim without her bubble on...it is usually only for a quick moment, but still she is making progress. She is also getting daring and will jump off the diving board all by herself! Way to go Arabella, keep up the great work!

Beach Bound

While in Boston, we hit the beach twice. Once around lunch time and then once later in the afternoon after Uncle Mike finished work and Arabella had her nap. On both days, it was pretty warm, so the beach was full - we did manage to find a place to stake as our own and we settled in for sum fun-in-the-sun! It didn't take long for Arabella to make her way to the water:


She had fun jumping over waves, building sand castles and playing in the water with Uncle Mike. I loved being able to relax and enjoy the sand between my toes.





Our second day at the beach was more relaxed than the first. Partly because it was late afternoon and most of the people were packing up to head home as we were just settling in. Arabella could have cared less that it was 4 in the afternoon, she was just as happy as a clam being at the beach again!








I love the beach at anytime of the day or night, but I have to say that in the late afternoon is my favorite. It must be something about the way the sun hits the water as it is setting, the calmness of the water and the quiet that comes back as everyone is leaving...isn't it beautiful??

Swim Lessons Continued...

Arabella continues to do great with swim lessons! She is even starting to swim with just a little assistance and NO bubble...YEAH ARABELLA! She loves being in swim glass with GiGi and Allyson - they have so much fun! Arabella has one more swim lesson at the Pointe-Claire pool and then she will start having her lessons outside through the summer at the pool we belong to. Bring on the sunshine and hot weather, because we can't wait!
Look Mom - NO BUBBLE!

Arabella, GiGi and Allyson - the 3 Muskateers!

Summer Has Arrived!

We have been having, HOT, HOT, HOT weather here and I am not going to complain one bit! After all the snow, cold and rain we have had, I am loving the heat and humidity!

Last weekend, we spent a great afternoon with some of Jay's co worker's. Arabella and Jay enjoyed the pool and "hot tub" that was just like the bath. It wasn't easy to get my little mermaid out of the pool for dinner since she was having so much fun!


Arabella was very happy to help make dinner. She also had fun playing in the new sandbox and after dinner we all enjoyed a little Rock Band!






And when the heat kept going, we cooled off at Linda and Catherine's house on Tuesday. Arabella and Allyson had a great time jumping into the pool, swimming out and jumping all over again! I swear that did it for hours on end, but they were happy and laughing and that is all that matters! We had a great day and can't wait to have a mid-week swim party again!