We’re just back from a week in the Canary Islands (more on POD Travels soon) where the climate was somewhat more preferable than the blizzard we left behind. Our James Villa Holidays accommodation had a pool which we hoped would provide POD with the freedom to enjoy the water outside of her swimming lessons. When we weren’t galavanting around exploring Lanzarote of course.
Those of you that have read this blog for a while will know it’s taken a while to build up POD’s water confidence. Despite being self assured and fiercely independent, the swimming pool was certainly her nemesis. With much encouragement and taking it at her pace, it’s wonderful to see POD looking so delighted in the pool. She has had weekly 1-2-1 swimming lessons since last year and more recently joined group sessions. Around 18 months ago POD wouldn’t put her face in the pool, now she spends more time under the water than she does above it!
We had the best L-shaped pool at our villa which we tested out on our first morning. POD absolutely loved it and the time she spent in that pool was certainly a highlight of her holiday. It’s the best combination when you can go on adventures for much of the day then return to the tranquility of your own villa. POD is now swimming by herself which is amazing. One of us was obviously with her in the pool at all times, not that she stayed still of course. She was off practicing her froggy legs, jumping off the steps or showing us her underwater dance moves! I cannot wait to see what our GoPro footage is like, quite entertaining I’d imagine.
We did have one chill out day which we spent by the pool, it was the warmest day and around 25 degrees. Total bliss! Having so much time to practice her jumps and strokes meant we saw her improve greatly during the holiday. I cannot wait to see how she does in her next lesson, she’s brimming with water confidence now. Lots of shouting “look at me do this Mummy, look at this Daddy” as she showcased her new tricks. Even when we had a break from the water to recharge, you’d turn around and she’d sneak back in again for one more go. It was such a delight to see her in the pool looking so happy. Such a contrast to when she developed ‘the fear’ a few years back and was literally terrified.
The water fun wasn’t just in our villa swimming pool this holiday either. We visited a couple of Lanzarote’s best beaches on our travels which provided POD with the opportunity to jump waves and generally loll around in the sea. We saw some quite big ones at times and while she didn’t venture too far out, she would have happily braved the larger waves. The sea was much chillier than our heated pool and varied quite considerably depending on where we were. One day she’d be in her Boden surf suit or cozzy, the next her Konfidence shortie wetsuit which always keeps her warm.
It will be interesting to see how she gets on in next week’s swimming lesson after all the practice she’s had. She’s itching to show them her bombing but that’s not going to be possible unfortunately! We’re so proud of how far she’s come and most importantly how much she’s enjoying learning to swim. She’s just relishing getting better and pushing herself to see what else she can do. Let’s hope it continues because she’s having the best time with it all at the moment.
