Water babies!

I've almost missed the boat on this blog - but that doesn't matter to our almost three year old!

Who needs a boat when you can swim?

The kid is like a fish in the water, and he just loves to go "under!" He's been fearless in the water since as long as I can remember. We've watched him practice putting his head under and holding his breath for months now.

Last year he had no qualms about Daddy launching him 6 feet into the air - and he'd sink pretty deep before his floaties brought him back up to the surface.

It scared the crap out of Momma. This was before he started practicing holding his breath.



Now, he'll jump in head first (sort of - it's more of a belly flop really) over and over from the side of the pool. He calls it his Dolphin Dive! He'll even jump from a diving board, no hesitation. We often have to drag him from the pool, shivering and teeth chattering.

Big kid's love of the water started when he was only wee. Every summer (this is his third) we've taken him swimming at least a couple of times a week - daily whenever we could - and it's paid off big time. I even think our water play at bath time has played a part in building his confidence in the water.

The boys are lucky enough to have a GREAT great aunt who lives on a golf course. The golf club (house not the putter) has a couple of hard-to-resist attributes. Firstly, it does a bang-up ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT brunch, and secondly, it boasts a very cool outdoors swimming pool!

Nearly every weekend this summer, we've taken the family to the pool, and both boys have come on swimmingly!

Somewhere close to the start of these Summer swims, our big kid met a four year old girl who was swimming competently in the big pool. She didn't have any floaties on and her parents were poolside. They weren't being negligent. She could swim better than you or me (well, probably just me).

She was wearing goggles and going 'under', which inspired our big kid to do the same. She also inspired Daddy and me...

The little girl's Daddy explained that they'd installed a small pool last summer, and filled it to a height where the kids could easily touch the bottom. Once the kids could safely practice swimming, without needing to be held, they soon started swimming by themselves.

Genius!

We already had an over-sized big blue toddler swimming pool sitting in the yard doing nothing. But, being rainwater collectors, we barely have enough water to wash behind the boys' ears, never mind frivolously fill up a paddling pool with 500 gallons of collected rainwater!

Unless, of course, we could circulate that same water....

As luck would have it, our friends had a salt water pump they didn't need. With all the stars aligned, Daddy set to work installing and plumbing (that's why the poor guy was under the house in Daddies Freakin' Out!) our very own outdoor (white trash) swimming pool.

After a couple of evening 'swims' this is what happened:

Pretty neat, huh?

He's progressed from this, to swimming 6 feet or so UNAIDED in the big pool! And with little brother copying everything big bruv does, to the letter, I don't think he'll be too far behind...