The kids started their second session of swim lessons on Monday, just a few days after arriving home from our summer vacation. Monday was a little bit of a culture shock for me, diving back into our world of organized, scheduled activities but the kids didn’t skip a beat, eager and excited to see who their teachers would be and get back in that pool!

BB is doing a second session of Level 1 which seemed appropriate to me since this is her first time taking swim lessons. She made great progress in the first session but was still getting comfortable with floating and sticking her face in the water, so I’m glad they are taking their time with her. She lucked into another very small class of just her and one other student (and just herself the first day) which is so great for a beginning swimmer. I’m thrilled to see her getting such one on one instruction.

MM was jumped ahead from Level 2 to Level 3 after the first lesson which was a wonderful surprise, but well earned after a summer vacation that existed more in swimming pools and water slides than on dry ground. As I mentioned yesterday, MM made a major leap in swim confidence on our trip – tackling his fear of the water slides only to become rabidly obsessed with them. I think this kind of clicked the switch that he needed to progress forward as he honestly had most of the Level 2 skills already, just lacking the confidence. (mind you, all of this is speculation from the mom who isn’t in the pool with him most of the time).

And what of my accomplishments? I am making good progress in our book club’s next pick, The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown. It manages to have gorgeous prose without feeling stuffy or difficult to read – with characters that have caught my interest – always a good sign.

Even better is finding a nice shaded spot to sit while reading, with a good view of each kid’s area in the pool so that I can glance up every so often to say “oh good, happy and well.” (read: still alive – yay!)

How is your summer going?