Swim Lessons Started Today!

Since August, we have taken a few months off from the pool and swim lessons after Ryann came down with a very bad case of swimmer's ear right after the last session of summer lessons. If you have ever had swimmer's ear (and I had more than my share of it growing up), you know how badly that hurts!! To make matters worse, shortly after her swimmer's ear cleared up, her ear became infected again and consequently her eardrum ruptured (puss oozing out of the infected ear -- GROSS!!!). Seeing how much pain she was in with the swimmer's ear and then seeing all that yucky puss running out of her ear made me a little hesitant to start back into lessons (or to let her near a pool at all).

But today, we headed back to the pool! We got there a little early this afternoon so that Ryann could get back into the water and get acclimated before the lesson. I was really glad that she had that extra time to "practice" because the first time she jumped in (like she has done hundreds of times before), she panicked and wasn't able to swim back to the side. The life guard, who was on the stand right beside me, had to extend her a line (or whatever that thing is) to help her get back to the side. She was completely fine, and thankfully, after a few minutes in the pool, everything started coming back to her.

Her lesson went very well. Her instructor had helped in one of her classes over the summer, so she felt very comfortable with him. She didn't learn anything new today (they never really do the first day), but at least she got back into the groove and had a good time.

After her lesson, Ryann got to play in the toddler pool for a while with her friend, Katie, from preschool who also had a lesson this afternoon. Playing in the pool is always more fun with a friend!

Good times!