Swimming as a Baby

Odin started his first swim class on Saturday. We were at the super swank kids' pool at the Midtown YWCA, where the water is warm and the folks are friendly (? - it seemed like I needed some sort of parallel syntax there). Anyway, it is a great pool, with a "beach" (no sand) that makes it easy to walk into the pool with an 8 month old in your arms (and out of the pool with a wet! 8 month old in your arms). It took Odin a little while to figure out he could move his arms and legs around in the water, but once he got that, he had fun kicking and splashing. He swallowed a little bit of water, and didn't even seem to mind that.

So what does an 8 month old do at swim class? Pretty much just hangs out in the water, turns out, which is just fine. We sang some songs (Hokey Pokey in the water), played with a ball and a rubber duckie, "swam" back and forth (I held him around the middle and pushed him across the pool), "floated" (his head resting on my shoulder & back supported by my hand), and "jumped in" (I sat him on the side of the pool and simulated him jumping into the water). All the things to help me get used to having him in the water and get him used to being in the water.

The instructor said that the reflex that cause babies to not breathe in water when they're underwater goes away at six months, but we will practice going under water starting next week. Ought to be interesting.