Swimming

(I'm a bad mom and have no photos of either of these things!)

Of the three boys, Truman is the only one who cannot safely swim in the deep end without a life jacket, so I enrolled him in swim lessons. He just finished his 6 week class (one class per week) and as of yesterday, he is doing much, much better. He can swim about 15 feet or so before requesting help or reaching for the side. Truman has been in swimming pools WAY more than either of his brothers at his age and is very daring, so it has surprised me that he is not swimming on his own yet. I want to be confident in his abilities and not worry about him in deep water, so I enrolled him in another 6 week class that starts on Monday. I was pretty sure that a 2nd round of classes would get him off on his own.

This afternoon, we went to the local pool with friends. We took off the life jacket and started practicing. I moved 15 feet away, then 20, then 25. I knew that his ability was there... he just lacked a bit of confidence. By midway through our swim, he would jump in and swim back to the side and was swimming on his back. I was so proud of him! Later, he had his life jacket back on & was walking over toward the diving board. I watched as the life guard told him he couldn't go with a life jacket on. He looked like he was going to remove his jacket, so I hurried over and talked to him. I explained that from the end of the diving board to the ladder was about as far as he had been swimming all afternoon alone.

So, he quickly removed his jacket with a twinkle in his eye and stepped into line for the diving board! Once on the board, he was a little hesitant to go all the way to the end. He did go to the end, jumped off and swam to the side with no difficulty!! WOW! On his third jump, I noticed that he was bouncing on the end first, then he proceeded to do a front flip! Ha ha... my daredevil figured out how easy it was and he was off... Neither of his big brothers have been brave enough to dive or do a flip and he did it on his first day! Go Truman!!