Swimming

Yesterday, we took the kids to their first official pool party. Abby took swim lessons with me last summer, but they were mainly just fun games and songs to get her used to being in the water. We have had two swim lesson this summer so far. They have been a bit more instructional than last summer, but we are still in a Mommy and Me class (the YMCA doesn't offer independent swim lessons until kids are at least 3 years old). In the class, we pretty much do what the instructor tells us too. There is not much time for free swimming, as she keeps us busy the whole half hour. So, yesterday was really Abby's first opportunity to explore the water since last summer. We got her a life jacket for canoeing, so we decided to give it a try in the pool.

When we first got in the water, Abby had a hard time keeping herself upright in the life vest. She would somehow end up on her back, and then the vest would flip her around, dunking her face right in the water. She was pretty cautious and hung out on the steps of the pool at first. I got out of the pool with Joshua at one point and came back to find this!



Apparently, she had figured it out! After a dinner break, I got in the pool with Abby. She was having a great time jumping off the steps...until she saw the diving board.



I know my girl is fearless, but I was still surprised when she got on line for the diving board and jumped right off without any prompting. The jumping continued for some time, and I was getting tired from treading water to catch her! Abby was pretty disappointed when it became clear that Joshua was ready to go home and we had to get out of the pool. I am so glad she had a great time and did so well swimming! I forsee a problem, however, when we go to swim lessons tomorrow! She is not going to want me to hold her, she is going to want to be free to swim! It should be an interesting time.