adventures as a 'tiny turtle'

we got ben signed up for swim lessons at the ymca. it's a parent/child class so i go and swim with him. they Y calls it their 'tiny turtles' class. indeed they are tiny turtles! so desperately wanting the freedom to swim and yet barely poking their heads our at times. priceless!

the point is mainly to get them used to the water and what to do in the water. we've learned lots of new versions of nursery rhymes to sing while we play in the pool. it's been great so far. he loves floating on the giant duck kickboard and watching all the other goings-on of the pool. he's starting to stick his face in the water when i ask him to blow bubbles. most times his mouth is open and he just sucks in a ton of water, but it's still funny. i love it because the class is small (only 5 kids total) and the pool is a warm salt water pool. so i don't leave feeling like i need to cleanse my lungs of chlorine or like we didn't get any individual time. plus, i'll know what and how to work with ben the rest of the summer in our own pool.

we got a pool safety fence last week (thank you dear nanny). and i must say my anxiety has gone way down. ben loves to run around the deck and now i can let him do that without my heart being in my throat. it brings so much peace that i didn't even realize i need. we'll be putting up our big shade sail this week so the deck won't be too hot on little baby toes. soon the backyard will be baby friendly :)