31 for 21 - More Swimming Lessons

Today, my youngest 2 daughters started swimming lessons.  They each passed a level this summer & I wanted to get them back in the pool again fairly soon.  My older daughters seemed to regress a little in their swimming ability during the winter at this age & I am trying to prevent that.

K is very comfortable in the water & had no trouble jumping in or putting her head under the water.  She was a little unsure about floating on her back, so we'll have to work on that.

I admit that I was a little nervous at the start.  Although I didn't mention that K has Down syndrome when I registered her, it is a small community, so everyone knew.  I don't know if this really makes sense, but I feel like sometimes she has to behave even better than the other kids because she has DS.  She made me very proud & really did well during the class, doing all of the activities when she was told.  At one point she did wander a little farther away than the others during an activity, but returned when asked & continued to do well in the rest of the class.   She was really good right until the end of the class when all of the kids were supposed to get off of the water slide & head back to their parents.  Of course, K had to show off  her independent side!  She came 3/4 of the way back to me, turned, looked at that big, empty, inviting, pool & jumped back in!

Afterwards, I had a chat with the swim instructor.  She was pleased with how well K was doing, but then made a comment about "them" not learning as quickly.  First of all,  our kids are not "them".  My child is a unique person, as is every other kids with Down syndrome.   This is one of my pet peeves.  It also really bugs me when people decide that kids with DS can't learn as well when they don't even know them.  Of course, I had to start a discussion about her comment.  Then to prove my point, I had K read some of the various signs around the pool like "No Running". The instructor called a couple of others over to listen.  They asked questions about her age, how she could read at such an early age, etc.  That's my little advocate!  I hope they think twice before judging people by their looks again.