Swimming

As I mentioned earlier, Evelyn has had such a hard time learning to swim. We've tried for the past two years and made a little bit of progress, but just in the past few months, she became so afraid of swimming that she wouldn't even come off the edge of the pool. I was completely stumped with what I should do...six years old is DEFINITELY an age where she needs to be able to swim, especially here in Arizona where everyone has pools.

Well, it turns out all it took was a little bit of Dad wisdom. Lance told her that every time she cried or freaked out about swimming she would have to jump in the pool. Well, it took about three times of having to jump in the pool before she realized it was actually easier to just try and learn to swim. Once she decided to try it, it took her about 20 minutes to learn to swim, haha. This is so Evelyn. So scared to try things, but once she does, she loves it!

This was her second time actually swimming. Not much technique, but she is doing it! And she jumped in! Since then we have been to the pool more, and she has learned to swim on her back, side stroke, breathing and swimming to the bottom of the pool. No more fear for this girl! She loves it! 

For some reason I don't have any pictures of Addi, but Addi is swimming too! She wasn't scared like Evelyn, but definitely loved swimming *with* her floaties. She can now swim across the pool without them! The one thing she hasn't gotten down is breathing...she would rather go as long as possible without coming up for air than to come up for air.  She still has a way to go, but if she fell in water she could definitely swim to the edge, which is the goal.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Blake: completely fearless in water with or without floaties or a life jacket. His favorite thing in the world is to jump in the pool or get thrown into the pool and every single time he comes up with a huge smile.

We tried teaching him to swim, but realized he has no concept of not breathing under water. In fact, after twenty minutes of practicing I finally convinced him that when you jump in the water, if you keep your mouth closed you don't drink any water (amazing concept). Now he jumps off the edge, comes up, and yells, "I did it Mom! I closed my mouth and I didn't drink any!" Baby steps.

Here he is doing his favorite thing: getting thrown into the pool