Well, this Friday with early release from school, Cari called us up to come over, so we headed over to go swimming. Since I had Declan and couldn't go in, I finally got some photos of them swimming. The girls have done really well this summer and have come a long ways. Shelby is constantly swimming under water across the pool. She likes to have floaties on, but today I didn't put them on her, and she did awesome! She did eventually make me put them on her, but I made her do it by herself for as long as I could. Taylor is very independent and goes everywhere. She still doesn't try to swim around like Shelby, but her independence is a great improvement. Payden's probably had the most improvement. At the beginning of the summer, she would hold on to me with every limb possible. I would try to get to her hold just one of my hands, but even that was a challenge. I kept making her try to swim, and suddenly one day it just clicked. She realized she wasn't going to sink and that she could swim on her own. From that moment on, she was done with me. It was honestly like someone flipped on a light because in the same day she went from clinging desperately to me to not even coming near me. It's so fun to watch her little legs kicking so hard to get around. Since it had been awhile since we'd last swam, I worried she'd forgot that she knew how to swim. She did seem reluctant to get in the pool, but once Joel put her in, she started swimming and seemed to have no problems at all.
Here's Taylor like you normally see her . . . off on her own. She just seems to be doing her own thing and doesn't normally interact much with anyone else.
Payden floats around with her legs kicking a mile a minute. It's funny to watch.
Here's Shelby swimming around. She loves to do this a lot, and it's one of her biggest accomplishments this summer.
You'll also find Taylor on the side of the pool a lot. I don't know if she's tired or if she just likes to scoot around the edge, but she's there A LOT.
Ever since Payden discovered she can swim on her own, you'll see her going over to Shelby, and they'll hold hands and spin around a lot, giggling all the time.
Lexi LOVES Payden, and as soon as Payden got in the water, Lexi swam over to her. She'd leave for a bit, but you'd always see her go back to be by Payden. It was too cute.
The other thing I've noticed about Taylor is she loves to hold things when she's swimming. She got this water gun, but you'd also see her with the cleaning net and on other swimming days, she has balls or whatever else she can find.
Another thing Payden loves to do with Shelby is to hold on to her back while Shelby moves around. Again, they just giggle away as they're doing it.
Taylor had a few turns around the pool on this mattress thing. One time she was sitting on it, and Dallin tried jumping on the back right behind Taylor. Well, he ended up slipping off the back end and taking Taylor with him. She had no idea what had happened. She cried, but I think she was more surprised than anything else. It was kind of funny.
Joel was throwing and pushing the kids in the pool. Payden went over to him and he dropped her in too (which TOTALLY shocked me that she let him do it). She loved it so much that she wanted to do it over and over and over again. First she'd climb up the ladder. Then she'd walk over to me and shake herself right next to me. I never figured out why she thought she had to get me and Declan wet, but she HAD to do it every time.
She'd then go over and just stand next to Joel. She wouldn't say a thing, but would just sit there staring into the pool waiting for him to grab her. It was funny.
He'd lower her over the edge and then just drop her in. The thing that shocked me is that she would dip completely under the water, and she had NO problems. I expected some fussing (like I get when I bathe her each day), but NO. I figured it was because Joel was doing it. She just LOVES Joel.
When she'd resurface, she'd spit out the water in her mouth and then open her mouth and squeal. After she squealed for about a minute, she'd swim back over to the ladder, climb up, and we'd start all over again.
Since the other kids were jumping into the pool, Shelby decided to give it a try. She'd put her arms together like you do for diving and jump in (as opposed to diving in). We'll have to work on that dive, but she's got the right idea.
Payden also LOVES to get in and out of the pool, so she was often on the ladder climbing up and down.
Afterwards, Cari made us snowcones and then the kids played. It was a great day with friends. Thanks Cari and Joel!
2 comments:
Oh that looks so fun and refreshing!
That looks like so much fun! We are so sad that summer is over.
You have beautiful little mermaids. :)
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