Swimming for All

Swimming lessons were a very good thing this past June. 

Lincoln learned to have fun in the water again and Natasha went from not putting her nose in the water without plugging it, to swimming 4 different swim strokes. 

Here are my essentials for swimming lessons and other water related outings:

• Turkish towels. They are thin, roll up into hardly anything, dry super fast, and aren't over-the-top with designs like flip-flops, donuts, palm trees or emojis. 
• Snacks: Chomps turkey meat sticks, almonds, raisins, dried cranberries and water. Always water.
• A PUL, water-resistant zippered bag to bring home wet swimsuits in. I use the ones I had on hand back when I was cloth diapering. They work for anything wet-not just diapers.
• Lotion, since heavily chlorinated pool water makes a person's skin feel parched.
• The BEST clean sunscreen I have ever found. Yes, it's Beauty Counter, and no, I don't sell their products. They simply have the best sunscreen and I have no plans to change, so they'd better keep making it. I have tried my share of zinc based sunscreens: One brand made me sweat bullets when I otherwise wouldn't be sweating. At least a couple made me turn white as a ghost and didn't rub in well, which is not the goal when trying to apply sunscreen. Another stained my clothing. Beauty Counter's rubs in smoothly, is not ultra-greasy, works like it should and doesn't have harmful ingredients. It is slightly on the pricier side of things, but trust me, it's worth it. 
• Swim goggles. I feel almost vintage when I explain to my kids that "When I was your age..." I took Red Cross swim lessons at the public pool. When it was time to swim laps, I had to open my eyes in the water to follow the black line on the bottom of the pool with my eyes open. Chlorine burning them the whole time. These swim goggles do make lessons much more fun. 
• All packed in a cute basket. Since swim lessons are now over, I keep this basket by our back door still stocked with all our swim stuff. When swimsuits aren't in use, they go here. The towels are here too. It's just easy to grab whenever we need it. Bonus: It almost looks like decor.

The other girls in Natasha's class brought their American Girl dolls along to play with while waiting for their class. Naturally, I had to sew my Kirsten doll a swimsuit so she (and Natasha) could join the fun. It was the tiniest suit ever, and turned out splendidly.

I combined this doll bikini pattern with this leotard/swimsuit pattern to make Kirsten's swimsuit. I skipped the foldover elastic since I don't have any suitable and used my absolute favorite neck binding method for knits instead. This worked not only for the neckline, but the leg closures as well. The fabric came from a secondhand swimsuit tankini that I had on hand.