Our Little Water Baby!

Makenna LOVES bath time.  She hears that water start running, and you can just see the excitement in her face. As a newborn, of course, she wasn't a water fan, but once we invested (quite wisely) in her whale bath tub, she was hooked.

She loves splashing, loves every water toy you can give her, loves when Mommy and Daddy dribble water over her head.  She especially loves sucking on her wet washcloth or spongy crab toy (until Mommy pries it from her hands!).  So naturally, when a friend told me that there was a swim class available this summer for little ones ages six months and up, I knew we HAD to get Makenna in it.  Memorial Day weekend, we went to the Hurst Recreation Center and got her all signed up.  I have to admit, I was really excited to go swimsuit shopping for her.  I was, however, a little shocked when I ended up buying 12 and 18-month size swimsuits for my six-month-old baby, though!


On the first day of class, I was VERY excited. I just couldn't wait to get her in the water and see how much she loved it!  So after work, I started to get her ready.

Adorable Old Navy swimsuit - check!

Dora swim diaper - check!

   

Sun hat - check!

Seriously...this child could not look ANY more adorable in her swim gear!  I tried to get her in the sunglasses, suit AND hat, but couldn't manage it.  She was constantly pulling either the hat or the glasses off, but I finally caught her with the glasses actually on her face and not in her mouth!

Sunglasses - check!  Our superstar!

And don't forget the ever-important cover-up and princess towel!

Cover-up and princes towel - check and check!

I packed up her diaper bag, made sure the stroller was in the trunk, and off we went, in the 100 degree plus weather!  We arrived to find that she was the youngest in her class, which I suppose isn't shocking, since the youngest they will allow is six months.  There were only about six other kids, which was perfect!  When we got into that water - which, unfortunately, was tepid and not really refreshing at all (Thanks, Mother Nature, for heating it up so wonderfully.) - Makenna immediately started splashing.  She was so excited!  I knew right away that we were going to have a little mermaid on our hands.

Over the two weeks she had "class," she had such a great time!  She "jumped" off the side, learned to make "scoopers" with her hands, learned how to kick and even got really good at going underwater.  We had fun singing songs, like "The Hokey Pokey" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."  She charmed her two teachers and talked up a storm, and she loved chasing the little floating toys they had for the kids.  On the last day, we played in the kiddie pool with Daddy.

Makenna even went down the "big kid" slide and "jumped" off the diving board like a big girl!

Daredevil baby!

Overall, I would say it was a VERY successful two weeks.  She really seemed to love the water, and I was glad that we started getting her used to it so soon.  Sign us up to do it again next summer!