Swimming

The boys love going to the pool. Caleb will often bring me a pair of his swim diapers, hold them up to his crotch, and beg "pool? pool? swimmy pool, Mommy?" Upon arrival at the pool, the boys only get so far as the through the gate and onto the deck before they hurriedly kick off their shoes and make a dash for the pool's edge. Our tradiiton is to first go in the "big pool" and then when break is called, we migrate (reluctantly, and often not without a screaming fit), to the "baby pool".

Joshua started off the Summer as the more adventurous fish-like twin, but at this point Caleb seems to have surpassed him. In fact, Caleb doesn't even like for us to hold his hand when we are in deep water. Instead, he prefers to have us help keep him afloat by grabbing the back of his swim suit, leaving his arms free to paddle and his legs free to kick. Joshua will tolerate this, too, but generally prefers to have us hold his hand while he treads water. Neither of them are yet comfortable with being fully submered, although they do love being splashed in the face.

Today we discovered that the boys are tall enough to stand in the shallow end of the big pool, making my job significantly easier, since juggling two squirmy 30-something pound toddlers in the water is not an easy task. They can climb out of the pool all by themselves, and are learning to jump in by themselves, too. When we are in the baby pool they will put their hands on the bottom of the pool and practice kicking their legs behind them, and are very proud to show off their skill. If we can only teach them to not swallow water when they put their heads under, I am optimistic that they will be swimming before the end of Summer.