Infant Survival Swimming Lessons With The Twins | Our "Baby Minnows" Go Underwater

With pools everywhere in Malaysia, we decided to enroll the girls in survival swim lessons. I’d taken my brothers (who are 12-22 years younger than me) to survival lessons in the States, so I was familiar with the techniques. Not being a strong swimmer, I was amazed that over the course of a few days, an infant could get comfortable in the water. All of my brothers are avid swimmers now. I was curious to see how our girls would do.

In the lesson, the parent holds their baby and follows the movements of the instructor. The idea is to acclimate them to the water (our lessons were held in a non-chlorinated, mineral pool). Once they're comfortable with the feel of the water, they practice kicking their feet, grabbing onto daddy or mommy's shirt, and eventually holding their breath under the water.

We had been given "baby shower" money when we adopted the girls (you can read the first part of their story here). So, we used that to book four private sessions for the girls.

_{Learning to kick}

For the girls, everything at the swim center was new to them with lots of things to look at. Sometimes, as we were encouraging them to "kick, kick, kick," they would just float along, distracted by the kids on the other side of the pool or colorful pool toys. But, they really enjoyed spending time in the water.

After the lesson, the girls were usually tired ... and hungry. We'd feed them their bottles, then head over to a Korean place nearby that had a really great lunch set - buy one set get the other for 1 ringgit (about $0.25). The girls would sleep while we ate. So it was a win for everyone! ;)

_{"Conditioning" to go under the water. The parents says, "Ready ... go" and the instructor pours water on their head. At first, it is only for 1 second, then 2, then eventually 3 seconds.}

By the last lesson, we would say, "Ready ... go" then lift their shoulders out of the water, submerging them as they came back down. The twins could hold their breath for about 3 seconds as we pulled them under the water towards us.

The swim center uses a go-pro to record the lessons for instruction purposes, but they agreed to send us pics so we could share them with our family back in the States.

^{@< - - - - - - - - - - - Squirt - - - - - - - - - - - The Steemit Twins - - - - - - - - - - - Squish - - - - - - - - - - - >@}

It was a lot of work to pack everything, make sure the girls were fed beforehand, change ourselves and the girls after the lesson finished, and finally wash everything when we got home. But, it was a great experience to have as a family. Matt is confident taking them in the pool now so we enjoy doing that when we have time in the afternoons.

If you're interested in reading the rest of our story:

• Intro: Surprise, we have twins! The story behind why I fell off the face of Planet Steemit...
• Part 1: Babies can be victims of human trafficking too
• Part 2: Bringing home the twins
• Part 3: They don't come with a manual | Taking care of twins
• Part 4: Two love stories and understanding the twins' loss
• Part 5: Feeding the twins, feeding ourselves, and working full-time
• Part 6: Twins, not twins & going out with preemie babies
• Part 7: Taking a family vacation with twins to Cameron Highlands
• Part 8: Night intruder | Our vacation to Cameron Highlands continued
• Part 9: Ending the year as parents and celebrating the twins' first Christmas
• Part 10: What it takes to be the Superdad of twin babies
• Part 11: The twins eat solids and get new nicknames!
• Part 12: Adoption & Attachment | How a baby handles grief and loss

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