Into the deep blue....

I have been going to 'swimming' classes with Pippa for the last few weeks.  As you might well imagine there isn't a whole lot of swimming going on, more like a bobbing and spluttering class! 

The class is really just a social thing and a way to get the babies used to water and to become confident in it.  There are other classes which actually focus on teaching the babies to swim or learning survival techniques (yes, apparently, even for Pippa's age!), but these are really expensive and I wanted something a bit more relaxed for now.  The class consists of rhymes and songs and lots of swooshing about in the water. Then there's 15 minutes of play-time where there are lots of toys and floats.  For the first few weeks Pippa seemed a little bemused by the whole affair - she was content but pretty quiet.  However this last week she started to seem to really enjoy it, there was lots of kicking and squealing! 

The big finale at the end of swimming term is having an underwater photograph taken.  Each week we practice submerging the little ones and then passing them to each other, over a distance of about a foot, underwater.  Apparently the idea is that they'll be able to swim towards you underwater for about a meter or so! Exciting stuff!