June Goings-On

Mostly we've been at the pool everyday.  We have really lucked out to have Elaine here.  (Warning: I can tell I'm starting to get long winded.  If you're in a hurry, you might want to skip this one!)  :)  I had been trying to figure out what to do about swimming lessons for months.  I didn't think we could do without them, but I wasn't hopeful about how the boys would take to them.  Last year went pretty well for Ethan though he definitely isn't a "natural" and fought against pretty much everything and Jared pretty much refused to cooperate at all.  The boys asked for me to be their teacher and since that was by far the cheapest option, I decided we'd go for it.  Because Elaine was here I could work with them one-on-one and not fear the other drowning.  (Also, I got time to do some laps which is my favorite way to exercise.)  :)
Anyway, I didn't have high expectations for the progress we'd make.  Usually I am optimistic, but past experience was against us.  I felt like Ethan had lost lots of what he had learned last year and was frustrated with that.  I instituted "Fun Floaty Friday" and said we wouldn't do lessons then but they had to work hard Monday through Thursday.  It started out about as I expected and then suddenly started going very, very well.  Now (three weeks in) we have both boys swimming with their faces in and that is some SERIOUS progress.  Ethan spends at least half the time at the pool under water and though his form is lacking, his enthusiasm is fantastic and I call that a win!  I just love that the fear is gone...except every once in a while I wish Jared remembered a tiny bit of his fear because frankly, he is now terrifying and jumps in without warning me.  Without Elaine to keep an eye out and to keep me calm when I was feeling impatient and to participate in the splash wars with Ethan, we would not be where we are.
Okay, so, I don't bring my camera to the pool much and then I'm working with the boys, but last weekend Elaine's friend came to visit and she came swimming with us and I did take some pictures.

 (Did I mention we almost always have the pool all to ourselves?!)

I put the above picture in for a reward to anyone who made it this far.  Is it not the most ridiculous thing?  My head looks like it doesn't belong to my body.  Anyway, Ethan discovered he was really strong in the water.  :)  Hooray for no exchanging fun for fear and having lots of fun at the pool!