All of our pool time (and the bribery promise of any frozen/lego/cars toy they want) has brought some real progress on the swimming front for Nathan and Anneliese. Progress as in, THEY CAN DO IT.
I mean, there is no good stroke work going here, or anything fancy, but they are letting go of the wall and the bottom and moving their bodies in the water, willingly, without help, and OH MAH GAH I'M SO PROUD. (And relieved. This is a big safety thing for me.)
Anneliese did it first, on Sunday:
(If you can't see the embedded video, click here to watch on YouTube.)
And then Nathan, in a burst of "can't let little sister outdo me," did it today. It's all in the legs for him, apparently:
(If you can't see the embedded video, click here to watch on YouTube.)
(We actually don't hate that Anneliese did it first. According to my sources, middle kids hardly get to do anything first. Also, she is (most of the time) a wee but more confident than Nathan, so seeing her do it was good motivation and reassurance for him. Peer pressure in the best way.
They will also both go underwater for diving rings (mostly just off the steps) and just in general are not freaking the eff out about getting their faces and heads wet. It is huge progress for these kids who are slow to catch up to their water-loving genes, apparently.
Oh! And baby Ali had her first swim too! In our pool! (Both our girls had their first swims in Uncle Nick's pool, so this was a sweet turnabout.) Considering how much she likes to yell about life, we weren't sure that she would be very happy about swimming, but she loooved it. Stayed happy and content in the water for a good long while. She was squishy and slippery and drippy and oh so sweet.
It has been an emotionally wrought few days around here, nothing having anything to do with the kids, so seeing them be summery and proud and determined is basically the best thing ever. It makes me teary.
6 comments:
I love that we got to be there for Anneliese's first swim! Can't wait to see Nathan!
Henry is still in the freak-out-about-face-getting-wet stage, but I'm just happy he has pried himself off of me to swim on his own (yes with water wings) that I'm figuring it will come in time. I put his brother's snorkel mask on on him and forced him underwater so he would realize it's not all bad, but ... well, it didn't go terribly but he's still not ready. More summer swimming and hopefully he'll get through that hurdle.
Dude, Nathan is almost SEVEN (and was born to two swimmers, I even TAUGHT swimming lessons for years and years) - some kids just take time. He'll get there. For me it was becoming a panic-level safety fear (this pool is in our yard! fenced in but still), so I was very very ready for him to get there. (Anneliese too, but her age for independent swimming seems much more average to me.)
Ezra just watched this video with me three times in a row. He loved it.
I am soooo proud of them! Way to go, Erin's big kids!
I am soooo proud of them! Way to go, Erin's big kids!
Post a Comment