Listening to his teacher tell them the rules
playing and getting comfy in the water
time to go to the edge to learn some skills
learning to point their toes and scoop water
sitting on the inner edge of the pool
matts turn to swim - notice they are now on the top edge of the pool, this become important in a little bit when I explain
time to go down the big slide
him and his teacher going to the top
Matthew absolutely loved swim lessons. One thing I was concerned with when signing him up is his age. I didn't know if we needed to do the baby parent and child classes so that I was in their with him at all times or what. This preschool class normally does 4/5 yr olds so he is quite young even though the actual class age is for 3-5 yr olds. We decided to do it because the class has only 3 kids so the ratio is small. The max number of students is 6 and that seems like a lot of kids. Matthew is used to listening to his teacher in school so I think he will do just fine but the logistics of the instructor and that many kids who cant swim all in the pool were what I was worried about and wasn't sure how the class would go until tonight. Well the idea as you see in the above pictures is for the teacher to practice with each child while the others sit on the side. Simple enough but there is a difference in getting a 5 yr old to sit still and a 3 yr old.
Well this became apparent tonight. While they were sitting on the lower ledge the teacher had just got the little girl from the edge and was taking her out a little ways to practice kicking. She was a couple arm lengths away from the 2 boys and it was then that I notice Matthew start to practice his kicking. He stopped kicking and turned to look next to him and all was fine until he slid of the side ledge. Jeff and I, along with the other 2 moms were sitting in chairs along the edge of the pool. Distance wise we weren't any farther then the width of our living room but man at that point it seemed far away. Of course it seemed like an eternity but in a split fraction of a second I realize he is going to slide off and into the pool and he of course cant swim and the teacher cant reach him. I felt like time stopped. I was out of my chair and laying on the ground/deck of the pool and reaching in after him. He was completely under water, his head never did pop back up until I grabbed his arms and had him pulled up. Now it sounds horrific to try and describe it but it really all did happen so fast that during the incident it didn't seem as horrible if that makes sense. I got him out and the teacher made it back to the edge and the lifeguard was off his stand and next to me before it really clicked what had happened. My biggest thing was to not freak because I didn't want him to be scared. And of course he wasn't phased one bit. He wanted to get right back in the water and didn't understand why I had him on the edge of the pool and not with his 2 friends on the lower level. He must have held his breath because he didn't cough or sputter or act like he had swallowed any water. I ask him if he is ok and he says yes and he wanted to do swimming lessons so I get him situated and only then do I sit up and get off the ground and I go back to my seat to watch the rest of class. Jeff said he didn't realize what had happened cause he didn't see him go into the water he said he jumped up when he saw me fly out of my chair and hit the ground and it was then that he saw his head under water at the same moment I was reaching in to grab him. Of all the days I was fully dressed on the side of the pool because let me tell you that after laying on the deck I was quite soaked. One of the moms moved her chair in closer to ours and said that she was feeling confident but after that she didn't want to be too far away.
Anyways... It was here that as you see in the pictures, the kids got put on the top ledge. I am not sure it's any better up there because as I noticed a little bit later the kids would try to kick and splash but their feet aren't in the water so they lean forward to see their feet. I can totally see one falling head first in. The teacher was really freaked out about it and was so sorry that he fell in. She said she has never had that happen before. He is just barely 3 while the other kids are 4 going on 5 so the age difference is quite a bit especially with attention span and following directions. But even so he didn't do anything wrong, he wasn't goofing off, he was paying attention, he was following directions, he was answering questions, he was doing a great job, he just started to move a little and off he slid. It was that quick and that innocent.
I am very glad he didn't get freaked and wasn't scared. He was the only one of the three that put his mouth and nose in the water to blow bubbles. I guess he already got over that going underwater shock so he was ready to do it all. He even got to go down the big slide after class with his teacher and he loved it. He cried when we had to leave cause he wanted to swim more. So for the remainder of the class I will be taking my swim suit and will be right there in the pool during lessons and then we can do some swimming on our own as well either before or after class. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a second teacher come and sit with the kids on the side during class after today's incident but either way I will still be in the pool from here on out.
So as you can see, our 1st night of class was an adventure, let's hope we got it all out of our system and the next 2 weeks go by without a hitch because I am not sure I can take any more nights like tonight. Here it is almost midnight and I think my heart is still racing a little faster then normal but thankfully all is well and Matthew isn't even aware of what happened or what could have happened. Like I said, reading about it really makes it sound much more horrifying then it was at the time.
