Buddha Belly = Built-In Floatie?

New England Winter Swimming Lesson Style

Today was week 2 of winter swimming lessons. Gregory continues to amaze all the Moms with his level of comfort in the water. The other kids make an effort to keep from getting their faces wet, but Gregory makes an effort to keep his face from getting dry. He spends as much time as possible with his entire body, including his head, submerged, and just one hand sticking out, holding on to the side of the pool. I think he has an unfair advantage - his little Buddha resembles a built in floatie - maybe it acts as a buoy?

The Floating Buddha

Tired, happy kids

Rebecca and I swam for the first half of Gregory's lesson - apparently as part of the lesson the parent can take the kids in the free swim part of the pool. She's doing great - swimming further than she was this summer, and even trying to swim with her face in the water. She gets some good speed going that way although I keep telling her she'd go faster if she'd let go of her nose. She made it through her entire lesson without any floatie, while Gregory and I swam. I actually did most of the swimming while he held onto my bathing suit straps yelling 'Hi everyone, I'm riding a dolphin!'. Hey, it could have been worse, at least he didn't think he was riding a whale!

I'll leave you with a video of the Gregory's class high fiving their teacher while jumping in the pool. Can you guess which one he is (hint: look for a certain feature in the midriff region)? Big sister Rebecca (wrapped in a pink and white striped towel) watches from the side.