(2 years 8 months 2 weeks 2 days)

Smiley Riley. What a character! She was so patient waiting for Reese to finish up her swim class 30 minutes before. She sat with Scott and Ashton across the pool... but that didn't stop her from yelling "Hi Reese! Good job Reese!" "Hi Reesey, HI!" through much of the class, but it was new and exciting, and well, Reese was waiting around a lot.... and she'd yell back as well.

There was a million and one people in the pool for the toddler class and we gathered on the steps for our orientation.

I suppose new "rules" have come through on what is acceptable for toddlers in the pool, and I had to internally laugh hysterically. From what I was gathering from the instructor trying to make the rules not sound as ridiculous as they were are some of the ones that I found humorous:

- Do not submerge your child, let them do it themselves. In other words, no more 1 - 2 - 3 - *BLOW* Dunk. You can go under the water, but you can't bring them down with you.
- They can only be submerged 3 times in the 30 minute block. WHAT IN THE HECK?! Ummmm so does that mean that Riley can only jump in the pool 3 times and then get out?

Riley was playing on the steps and wanted to just sit and hang out in the warm water, but she was given a floating block and we did stuff out in the pool for her to get more comfortable.... within 5 minutes she was kicking, dog paddling while I was holding her waist, floating on her stomach and her back... head fully under water. She blew bubbles in the water... and gasp...... jumped off the side of the pool about 5 - 6 times. We didn't get thrown out though.

She was straining to say "cheese"

I did ask our instructor, Liz who is SUPER nice, to let me know through the course of the weeks to work on to get Riley prepared for the Level 1 class. She laughed and said "She's ready now." I was taken back and said "What?" she said "She's jumping off the side of the pool by herself, she's ready." And I looked around, yeah there were screamers and chokers (kids hugging so hard to their parent's neck I thought we were going to have a few emergencies). I had no idea that was even an option for Riley since she's not 3 yet. I was told for the past 4 years that all kids HAD to be their physical age of the group before starting. Level 1 doesn't start until 3 years old and I also played it safe that if Riley was going to freak out being in the pool by herself, even with Reese in the class, I didn't want to lose a spot in the toddler class. Liz told me to speak with the director of the aquatic area, to see about moving Riley into Reese's class. BUMMER. Reese's class was full, but maybe there will be one or two that drop out and I could possibly squeeze Riley into the class while we wait.

Ahh well, good practice for the next sessions that will start in the middle of March, and then Ashton will start! Can't wait for that... that kid LOVES the water!!! At least in his baths, he scoots down to lay down to submerge his ears!