First Swim

Today we went to the YMCA and Luke got into a swimming pool for the first time. The event was a free swim organized by my local moms' group so it was a nice event and not crowded at all. It looks like they'll be doing this every other Saturday and I think we'll try to go as often as we can.

Luke didn't cry at all in the water, but he also didn't smile very much for a little while. I think he was just quietly taking it all in. There was a yellow ring floating in the water and he reached for it and after he got hold of it, he kept it for the entire time we were there, rarely letting go of it.

J and I took turns either swishing him through the water, floating him on his back, or lifting him up out of the water. He did smile a few times and seemed to be having fun, so that was a good sign.

He started getting tired after about half an hour in the pool, so we went ahead and got out and changed and came home. Luke fell asleep in the car just as we pulled onto our street (and the Y isn't very far away) and instead of immediately giving him a bath like we had planned (to wash off the chlorine), he conked out and slept quite solidly for about 30 minutes. He woke up briefly and nursed and slept again for another 45 minutes or so. Then he got his bath.

All in all, I think swimming was a success. He didn't get his face in the water (we'll work on that sometime in the future; I didn't want to overwhelm him for his first swim), but he did have some smiles. We forgot to bring a camera (left my phone at home and J left his in the car), so we didn't get any pictures. I'll make sure not to forget a camera the next time.