Mermaid or Dolphin? Advances in Swimming

Our beautiful mermaid!

Our little Stephen has made major improvements!!! We haven't gone swimming much because we have been busy with family from out of town--but two weeks ago we went with Grandma B. She sat by the side and watched while we all played.

That was the day Stephen surprised us and put his face in. Instead of making baby steps like Natalie; he displayed his personality and dove right in---quite literally!! He put his face in and because he had the mechanics of the turtle crawl, he would just go along several feet with his face in. He did that right away. I was AMAZED!! Within 15 minutes he was jumping in and going under. The hilarious thing is that he would stand right on the edge and then he would put his arms above his head with each pointer finger raised like he was a ROCK STAR and then he would jump in like that. No one taught him that--cracked us up!!

Within half an hour we had him jumping in, coming up on his own, and getting himself to the edge of the pool on his own!

After his amazing progress, we took him swimming the next week and got him swimming between us. We went swimming twice with my Mom and he just kept getting better. Both David and I are amazed at the explosion of swimming skills in our small cutie.
Look at him under water by himself!!
And swimming to Daddy!

Natalie keeps getting better and better too. This is her doing her summersaults under water! She is SO proud of this new talent.
She is SO in love with summer and swimming--it is hard to describe how amazing it is for us to watch her love something so much and succeed and improve.

Grandpa isn't much of a swimmer.



Our little dare devil jumps over Daddy's head! Who would've ever thought I would call Natalie a dare devil:)






I think one thing I love the most with the exploding swimming skills is how much Stephen became attached to Daddy in the pool. David has been working hard with Natalie all summer and I usually have Stephen. Now that Stephen is doing cool stuff, he wants to be with Daddy. As soon as he gets in the pool he calls loudly calls, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" and "Daddy look at me!" He wants to jump with Daddy and practice with Daddy! David is one of the best teachers I know. He makes it fun and is patient, but he still expects improvement, somehow he makes you want to be more. I know firsthand because there are a lot of things I have learned from him. In fact, he taught me to drive when I turned 16! I'm so glad my kids have such a great Daddy.


Stephen also loves to show off for Natalie!! Or anyone else who will watch; he loves to do something cool and then call out "Taddaa!!!" It is fun to watch!!


Natalie loves to jump in with Daddy and Stephen. She even does little moves before she jumps in; and underwater she can do summersaults and twists. She has come so far and is truly a little mermaid (or dolphin) as she says! I am so proud of her.