Henry just completed two weeks of swimming lessons at the Wilson High School Pool (through Portland Parks and Rec). During the summer the classes meet every day for two weeks which really gives the kids a chance to practice, practice, practice their skills. In addition, we stayed after lessons and swam at least 75% of the days as well. The Sunday before Henry started lessons, he also started swimming on his own! Brett bought him goggles and those were the key to giving him the confidence he needed to really keep his face down in the water and swim, swim, swim. In the short two weeks since his lessons began the improvements have been amazing. He can swim and glide for greater and greater distances, he is starting to be able to pop his head up and take little breaths so he can swim longer, he can just about dive in the water, and he has no problem jumping in. He will still need to repeat this level of swim lessons because he can't quite float on his back by himself yet or do a front glide the way they want him to (arms straight up in front of him and not paddling). I'm hoping to be able to keep him in lessons throughout the fall and winter at the SW Community Center as much as possible so he can continue building his skills.
