Waterbabe

All dressed and ready to go!

Today, Sera went underwater.

We had our first swimming lesson this morning, together with five other babies. I was very excited for her and had prepared a week in advance, buying the most crucial item - her swim suit. Well, it's always important to have a good swim suit as well as look 'smashing' in it. Ha ha.

The day started early, 6.15am to be exact, as we had to drive into town during peak hour. We rushed through breakfast,got into the Jeep and plowed along with the rest of the vehicles. Sera, who had to be woken up from her sleep, dozed off in the car. After a few detours, and with some good navigation from Johan's mom, we arrived just in time.

The babies, all girls, were dressed in cutest swimming suits ever, some even had sunglasses on. After a quick registration and introduction, the mothers had to jump into the unwelcoming cold and slightly murky water. In the 30-minutes, we learned different ways to hold and manoeuvre our babies in the water. As expected, the mothers were more excited than the babies, coaxing their babies to kick their legs, blow bubbles with the water. Sera was probably the most nonchalant baby of all - no squealing, no kicking or even crying. She was simply hanging over my arm, absorbing the scene around her.

So after several minutes of swooshing and swishing the babies around, we got to the more exciting part - SUBMERGING the babies into the water. Cool! So this is the method:

Hold the baby under their armpits. Count 1-2-3, blow into baby's face (this causes them to hold their breath) and then slowly pull them underwater

Simple huh?

Most of the mothers hesitated but I thought, might as well just get it over and done with. I mean, Sera would have to go underwater one of these days anyway. So following the simple steps, I gave Sera her FIRST experience of being underwater ... well second, if you count her swimming in my womb for 9 months. She was very calm underwater, even opened her eyes. She only started to gasp and struggle when she came out of the water. And she was the only baby who didn't cry after being submerged. I had to admit this proud mama was beaming inside. Ha ha.

Waterbabes in session

Post-submersion

A cookie after an exhausting swimming session