Riley took his first swimming lesson today at Swim Atlanta in Roswell. Mama and Dada had to get up really early (yawn) to get Riley to his class on time at 9:50 am!

Riley was ready to roll in his swim diaper, rubber pants and red bathing suit! Kim had the honors of swimming with Riley in the pool today, while Bill made the choice of having camera duty (someday we'll get Bill in that pool!). Riley met his swim instructor, Chelsea and his fellow student Haley. When Chelsea said we were allowed to get into the pool, Riley got very excited! The temperature of the water was about 92 degrees (NICE!) and as soon as Riley's little arms hit the water, he began splashing in delight.

Chelsea worked with Riley on his kicking skills first. She threw a toy into the water and told Riley to go and get it...and that he did! He splashed and kicked his way over to the toy and picked it right up out of the water (all the while being held by Mama of course!). Unfortunately, he was unwilling to let the toy go once he got it! When we tried to take it from him, he screamed as loud as he could...and the screamed echoed throughout the walls and sent shivers down all our spines. Yuck.

We also worked on jumping into the pool, which was a little difficult considering Riley doesn't stand just yet. But Kim stood him up on the side of the pool, holding onto his waist while raising him high above her head and lowering him into the water. He really could have cared less about this skill.

The highlight of the lesson had to be when Riley went under the water for the very first time. Chelsea asked Kim if he had ever been under and of course Kim said, "No." So Chelsea suggested playing "Ring Around the Rosie" and when you get to the part of the song that goes, "We all fall down..." pull him under. Now this was a scary concept to Kim...knowingly pulling her defenseless, innocent young child under the water. But we tried it anyway...and Riley LOVED it! He went under with his eyes and mouth wide open and came up the exact same way...and with a BIG SMILE on his face! This kid is fearless.

We have four more lessons to go. Maybe by the end of this adventure we'll have an Olympic swimmer on our hands...one who is endorsed by Nike or Speedo perhaps. We have to pay for our retirement somehow!

We wouldn't be The O'Neills if there weren't photos to document this occasion! Click here.</a>