I started Sophia in swimming classes when she turned six months but because of work, scheduling, and not having enough arms to get Sophia dressed after class and then hold her while I got dressed, that six week session was our last for a while. I didn’t start her up again until she was nearly a year old. Not that she screamed or anything, but It took her a month to become used to being in the water. I think it took a lot longer to warm up to her swim instructor, so a couple months ago when he had to take so much personal time off that the class would switch to another instructor Sophia didn’t like her at first.
The new instructor sang a lot more songs with less free time for the moms to chat, which also bugged me at first, but she also made sure to spend some time with each child. She tries more to get to know them and get them to interact with her specifically instead of just allowing the moms to move the baby hands at the appropriate time within a nursery song. She asks each toddler to splash the water or blow bubbles and to give high-fives. Upon receiving a high-five, she will dunk herself in the water. Most of the kids are enamored by this and caught on quickly. Sophia was too reserved to extend her hand, so for weeks I did it for her, not right away mind you. I did give her a chance to try on her own, sometimes I just let her sit there, and the instructor would touch her own hand to Sophia.
Finally last week I saw a change. Sophia’s other instructor had taught a couple of the previous classes and so this day the new one was back and Sophia was excited to see her. She kept reaching for her from across the pool. She finally came over to us for high-fives and Sophia smacked Melissa’s hand on her own.
On Tuesday Melissa came to Sophia and asked her to splash the water with her hands then to blow bubbles. Sophia wouldn’t do it. She instead reached for Melissa’s hand and tried to smack it with her other hand in order to dunk her swim instructor. Melissa didn’t go down and instead started to talk with another child, so Sophia began splashing her hands as previously asked. Anything to get what she wants; she truly is a little shit.