Still Swimming!!!

Both kids have kept up with the swimming lessons we started last year. Jeff has taken them pretty regularly throughout the year. Erin has not had quite as many months (chose gymnastics one session) as he's had, but they're both still blooming as swimmers. I can't believe that at this point last year, Erin was terrified to get her face and hair wet. Now she's swimming 25 yards at a time and working on actually developing her strokes. She tries to remember every step. I'd never realized how complicated swimming actually is. There's the kicks (straight legs), the arms, the breathing. Erin's working on breathing to the side.

Jeffrey is progressing as well, but not quite as quickly. His favorite part of lesson time is diving after the dive sticks. He's been able to retrieve sticks from about 7 feet down!!! When he puts his mind to the swimming he's really great at it. He's just tends to concentrate so hard on step 4, that he forgets about steps 1-3. Natural for his age though, so we're not worried. Our ultimate goal of knowing he'll be "OK" if he accidentally falls into a pool or lake are well on their way to being quieted. Of course I'll still watch him like a hawk.

They were tested recently, and both kids are at at level 4 meaning they are developing their strokes, but are capable of "swimming" completely on their own. Erin's biggest recent achievement is her interest in learning how to dive. She's had a couple of beauties already. Jeffrey's newest thing is being willing to try swimming on his back. He's never, ever, liked being on his back. He even started sleeping on his tummy by the time he was 4 months old. So last week he decided he'd give the back stroke a try. And he was able to work with his instructor to get an entire lap done. I was so proud of him for trying.

We'll keep swimming through April, but probably take May off. There's just a few too many things going on in May. Since we've got a family membership to the gym, we can use the pool as a family anytime we want during family hours. I'm looking forward to a summer of fun at the pool and the lake. Maybe we'll even get in a quick trip to the ocean!!!