Learning to be parents

Remember when we first started out with Spud’s first swimming lesson, I said that I’d rather Silver Bullet pick up my slack given my not-so-high-level-of-confidence when in the water?

Well, well! It appears that I have come a long way since.

Believe it or not, I have actually managed to take Spud to her swimming class for a make-up lesson not only just once, but twice now. And, all by myself!

Yep. You read that right, my friends. TWICE. On.my.own. That’s just me, the ever hyper-active and unpredictable Spud, her tote bag and the swimming gears.

[OK. To be fair, Silver Bullet has already claimed that first credit of taking Spud to her swimming lesson by himself when I was away in Singapore for the weekend a while back. I did suggest he take the Nanny along to help, if it makes it easier for him, but he was adamant to want to try it on his own. And he did. And at that time, I have no doubt that he’ll be OK. He will be frenzied and exhausted, but he will be OK. And he was. They both were!]

I’ll be honest and admit that I was jittery in having to take Spud to her swimming class on my own for the first time --- a make-up class for when we were on vacation over Songkran. I mean, despite knowing how to swim, I am still crap at having to deal with water in the pool and having to handle a potentially crabby baby while in the water and then, having to clean the BOTH of us up after that , does NOT sound like a good combination in my mind! Like me, Silver Bullet suggested that I could always ask the Nanny along. Like him, I just wanted to give it a go by myself and felt the 'high" that I, too, like most parents, can do this without any external help. So there we were: Nervy me trying to act cool, unpredictable Spud with her curve balls, and then there’s this other little me praying for my own sanity that:

a) Spud is not going to be super cranky, leaving me to deal her extremities in public,  and
b) My lack of confidence is not going to get the better of me when handling Spud in the pool

So yes, I think I have come a long way. Slowly I’m gaining the confidence of handling Spud while in the pool.

Spud goes underwater!

I guess as Teacher Turtle pointed out, the swimming lessons are not always necessarily for the babies, but essentially teaching the parents alike on how to properly handle their babies in the water safely. And typically, in doing so, gain more confidence for the child to get better at learning how to swim confidently.

Ahhhh....such is life learning experience.

I am definitely getting better at this parenting thing.

Or rather, I'm definitely getting better at looking super collected and cool while attempting to mask that lack of parenting skills!