Little Swimmers

It's amazing that we've gotten to this point in the summer, and we haven't written more posts about the pool.  The boys and I have been spending so much time there this summer.  It's been brutally hot, so that was the best place to hide out as the sun beat down.  It's great to have the pool in our neighborhood, so we've been heading down there at least a couple times a week and then again most weekends.

At the beginning of the summer, Evan was not too comfortable with the water.  He wouldn't really get off the upper steps and was nervous about it all.  So, we decided that swimming lessons were in order.  Fortunately, there was a neighborhood swim team coach that taught swim lessons and was willing to take Evan on.  Miss Maddie was great!  When Evan arrived for the first lesson and screamed and fussed about kicking his legs on the first step, I thought that she would run.  But patiently, the told him that he couldn't get out of the activities, and eventually, he came around.  There were still the occasional battles, but she held her own, and gradually Evan got more and more comfortable.

Here we stand at the end of the summer, and Evan probably still couldn't be referred to as Michael Phelps, but he's come such a long way.  Now, when we get to the pool, he eagerly hops in and walks down the steps to the floor of the pool.  He can blow bubbles and splash around with confidence.  He'll even let you hold him on his back and get his head wet for a few seconds.  He'll jump off the steps on his own and jump off of the side while holding your hands.  Evan loves his little floaty.  He'll put it around his waist and is completely willing to kick around the whole pool on his own.  Today, we even went over to the deep end!  He paddled easily around the 8ft. water.  Then, he climbed the ladder to get out on his own, and scooted back into the water with his floaty completely on his own.  He even asked me not to hold his hands! 

Benny is getting used to the pool as well.  He usually starts off his swimming adventures in his little baby floaty.  He's content to sit in the floaty if he gets to chase his floating fish around the pool.  However, he eventually gets sick of the floaty.  Then, he divides his time between pushing a ball back and forth to his baby friends Kieran and Amelia, jumping in while holding mom's hands, and wandering around the edge of the pool.  Oh, who am I kidding, while he likes the water the spends most of the time at the pool wandering around the edge.  He loves playing on the chairs, wandering off to the gate, digging his fingers in any muddy and funky puddles he can find, or disrupting the bean bag game being played at the edge of the pool.  He's a little explorer.

At the beginning of the summer, I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle both boys at the pool on my own.  Now, as the summer winds down, I will definitely be sad to leave our little pool for the year.  Oh well, guess we'll have to make our way to some indoor pools until the weather warms up again!