Not long after MJ was born, Clif's coworker also had a baby. He was sharing some pictures, when Clif noticed something odd: the baby went swimming immediately after birth...and not the normal grunge rock album cover style of infant swimming. When asked about it, the coworker explained they go every week and it's good exercise for the baby.
Update: Buoyancy helps reduce the amount of weight suspended from the baby's neck - like how you feel weightless while swimming under water. It is a specially designed inner-tube and it mostly just keeps the baby upright with head above water.
About the same time, Shayne had a reunion with all her classmates from the prenatal classes. They all brought new babies to show off and brag. The teacher asked if any had tried the Chinese swimming yet. Nobody had...
Saturday we put on our brave faces and did it. We went to the store, walked up to the worker, made the international hand signal for "swimming" and pointed at the baby. Before we could blink, MJ was naked with an inner-tube around her neck and swimming circles in a specially built sink! Check out the video:
I know it looks bizarre, and maybe a little cruel. She never cried, screamed or showed signs of anguish. If anything, she totally loved it. She kicked around for about 10 to 15 minutes, which is about how long she's willing to do anything. Then we dressed her up and paid the bill.
I think we'll go back for more, maybe even see if this can be done in our bath tube.
