Last month was a great swim month for Little . She did the head bobs all by herself , finally !! After nearly 4 months she did. Yohoo, you go girl!!

Who is celebrating? I am I soo am! Its taken a lot of cajoling, begging and not-so-nice warning to get her to do it. I am so proud of me. That’s right, you bet I am!

What is a head bob ? Well…

“Head bobs basically is hanging onto the side of the pool with both your hands and then lowering your face slowly into the water eventually putting your entire head underwater. This this is the first step in learning how to inhale and exhale when in water”

To be honest she has been giving it her best shot, which quite literally means wetting her lips , because that’s how you blow bubbles and you get a bit of your face wet  and then she waits , patiently ,for her instructor to come help her out with the head bobs.

She’s all fine with head bobs as long as someone helps her do it. It’s only a problem if she has to do it herself. There are list of things she has to  master before she can move a level up and head bobs have been the toughest for her.

Now, Curious is my water baby. She has never feared water. If  given a choice she could eat, sleep , play all day in water . She lights up in water!  Swimming was never a issue with her.

I enjoy swimming too. Back in Hyderabad , we had this open swimming pool in our community and every evening  just before dinner, I would go in for a swim, under the stars, open sky, palm trees and  all the jazz. It was magical. Sigh how I miss those evenings!

In fact, I was swimming up until I was six months pregnant with Little.  Most  afternoons Curious and I would and head downstairs to the heated swimming pool adjoining her apartment for an hour. I miss those days too! 

Now, with no success in sight, something had to be done about the little situation we had with head bobs.  Little thrives on  “What’s in it for me?”  If she can visualize her prize , she’s all game to try harder.

That is how we achieved the feat last month.

I decided to take away the one thing she swims for,  Saunf a.k.a candied fennel seeds . Tiny bits of colored, sweetened heavenly seeds that she seeks as a reward at the end of every class. That’s her “Good Job”.

All I did  is warned her just  before her class “You are not getting any Saunf after the class if you don’t try those head bobs”

This was reaffirmed by her “Any? No Saunf? Not even one?!”

Nope. Not even one.

Lo and  behold,  She actually tried going a little bit deeper  that day!  It worked, omg.

That was the start of head bobs, after that day, every class, she went in a little deep until she was finally doing a complete head bob. And all this for a little Saunf. Wow!

I still wonder, what took me soo long to try this trick?

By the way, every time she managed to go a little deeper, she made sure that I  acknowledged it  with a little nod, a wave ! She  returned the acknowledgement with a look that said Did you see what I did there? Well you better keep your eyes on me Mama. I am taking what’s rightfully mine!  I swear, I am not kidding here.  She did that every time.

I  can finally  cross off head bobs from the list of things to master and move on to the next one.  She enjoys swimming a little more than before. It’s only a matter of time before she catches up to Curious.  Ha who am I kidding, Its called wishful thinking!

Next on list, back floats. We are  slowly getting there, one baby step at a time , literally. I am not complaining.

Did you have any tricks that you swear by?