Week 33: Back to the Pool

When Jonah was an infant he absolutely loved water. Bath and his kiddie pool were two of his favorite activities. He slipped in the bath once and went under the water briefly and from that point on he was terrified.

Last fall we decided to have Jonah start taking swim lessons at the YMCA on the Upper West Side. We thought it would help. He was excited about it, but wasn't exactly focused on the class activities and we weren't exactly met with success. So long as we let him do his own thing, mainly climbing in and out of the pool, he was very happy in the water. When we encouraged him to do what the class was doing, he often was upset and occasionally even threw tantrums in the pool.

We were going to be away from home several different times throughout the summer, so we decided to take a break and revisit swimming in the fall. His fear of water was gone and he was back to loving bath, so we figured we had made progress.

We were visiting family this summer and he had a couple of opportunities to swim with his older cousin. He had a blast and was begging us to get back in the water. So, this Saturday, we started swim lessons again - completely different child. He had a great time, participated with the class and didn't want to get out. Even the teacher commented on how much better he was doing!

I have no idea what changed; perhaps it's just him being a bit older.

Photo - I find this pool one of the most difficult places I've found to take a photo. The fluorescent lights flicker and even on manual exposure and white balance, the photos vary widely. Plus, it's very warm and humid in there and, well, it's not those things outside in NYC in November. My lens fogs over every time and I have to wait for the camera to adjust. I'm getting better, though! This is my 135mm lens at f/2.