Swimming!

We started Leila in swim lessons at 9 months in a group class to get her familiar with the water and teach lifesaving techniques. She has been attending a swim academy since last fall (with a few months off when I deemed it too cold for swimming, even in a heated pool) and has made awesome progress. She was recently promoted into a class with a 3, 4, & 6 year-old, and she definitely holds her own at just 2 1/2!

She can dive in, swim underwater using her arms and legs, dive to the bottom for rings, turn around, cover over half the width of a pool independently, and climb out on her own. We still have more work to do, such as strokes, coming up for air and going back down, and perfecting diving technique. I still have to watch her to make sure she does not get too deep. This is not the type of program where they throw you in to see if you can swim, so I am still not 100% confident in her survival skills in the water. BUT we have made huge progress and I am thrilled with the results. I am hoping by the end of this session in September she will be swimming independently. We spend a lot of time in the water so it is really amazing to watch our little fish go. This is an old video so she has improved a lot since only 3 weeks ago.

Buddies

I am lucky to have made some of my closest friends during those long years of high school. Somehow, Kelly, April & I managed to have our first baby within 7 months of each other. Our kiddos are all now 1 and a new baby was just added to the group! Last Friday we got together to let the toddlers swim and ohh and ah over the baby. They were so adorable and get along so well.

Luke & Leila were ready to swim, whether the pool had water or not

This fountain kept them entertained for hours


Gray & Leila playing with the sprinkler--why are the most interesting toys not toys at all?

Baby Jamie (Luke's little brother) is 2 weeks old!

Here comes the duck parade