Maya goes swimming!

Hi, it’s Mustafa! Rebecca’s out of the house today, so it’s Maya, the recovering Lola (who’s eating kibble again, which is a great sign on the road to recovery), and me all to ourselves. We all miss Rebecca.

I don’t know how to tread water, and so I don’t enjoy my time in a pool or in the ocean as much as I otherwise would. I don’t want Maya to suffer the same fate, and so I was determined to get her into swimming classes early in her life. I didn’t actually know how early that would be; as it turns out, there are swimming classes for infants available that will accept tots as young as six months old!

So, when Rebecca told me the next round of classes were starting in January for babies, I asked her to sign us up. Today was our first class! So, at 10:30am, Maya and I arrived at the pool.

The “Aqua Babies” class itself was quite smartly organized. One parent joins their baby in the pool with the instructor and other baby/parent couples. The instructor leads the parents through simple water familiarization techniques that ease children into becoming comfortable in the water. Over time, kids start learning how to get their head underwater; how to hold their breath; how to kick; and how to swim a yard or so to their parents. Notable achievements earn stars; notable grouped achievements earn ribbons.

Unfortunately, Maya didn’t share her Abbu’s enthusiasm for this entire exercise. In fact, she cried through most of the half-hour lesson. The splashing, the voices echoing off the walls and ceiling, the presence of so many people, and finally being surrounded by so much water was overwhelming. She kept her arms locked around my neck as tightly as she could. She finally relaxed a little bit when she tried floating on her back, but it was quickly back to bawling when we tried sitting on a step or holding on to the edge of the pool.

The instructor said this happens on the first few visits for many babies, but eventually they all settle down and start enjoying the experience. I hope so; I never like hearing Maya cry, and I’m unhappy that an activity I imposed on her made her so upset. Well, we’ll find out whether Maya learns to like it; I signed up for classes till April.

All the excitement led to a nap almost immediately after we got back in the car to go home. She hugged Elmo and started softly snoring. Of course, this meant I had to drive around for the next hour just so she could get some uninterrupted rest.

The bad mood didn’t last long; this is our delightful baby jumbo jet, after all. I served her some chopped up chicken, carrots, and cheese as soon as we came home. As you can tell, this perked her up considerably!