she can float .

about a month ago, we decided to put ruth in an infant survival swim class.  the class is 4 weeks long, 4 days a week for 10 min a day.  at first, we really struggled with should we ? shouldn't we? we don't have a pool ? our parents do ? it was such a hard decision but we realized it was probably the best thing for her.   not only could she learn to love the water more but we can give her the tools to possibly save her own life.

the first day was really hard.  but, we handed her off & cheered her on ! it was actually a really special experience for chris & i.   we were so proud of how fast she was catching on & loved cheering her on together every morning.  "you can do it ruthie" "youre such a big girl" "you're almost done" "come on, come on" "you can do it" "yay".  she didn't love what she was being forced to do & grunted & cried most days.  i kept telling myself that it was only 10 min long [which seemed like forever]. it gradually got better & better & i quickly got over all my fears.  after swim we would sit in the car for 20-30 min and snuggle, then she would get up, nurse & be ready for her day.  

we just finished the class last week & we are thrilled with the results.  she has been put in the pool in every position possible but at the end of the day, she can flip over and float on her own ! its only the beginning for ruth & her little adventures.  but during this entire process we learned a lot about parenting.  the most important lesson we learned was to face our fears of the unknown & empower ruth in every way we can.

this is her at the beginning of her third week [sorry about the poor video quality]

according to the world health organization drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death in school-age children, and the number one cause of death in preschoolers