Pool Progress!

We've been taking Liam to the pool every evening for the past week & the amount of progress that he has made has got me thinking he'll be swimming on his own by the end of the summer! Not really, but yeah, really!

He was never one to enthusiastically kick, he would do it but not with any great gusto. He much rather preferred being carried around and playing that way & blowing bubbles every once in a while. Now as soon as we hit the water, he's full on kicking. And blowing bubbles. And doing a little breast stroke/dog paddle motions with his arms. All at the same time. And loving every minute of it! He's always got a huge smile on his face while he's in the pool, even when he's saying "no!no!" to one of our requests.

He would jump into the pool holding our hands, standing or sitting but usually with the Loophole that he would attempt to run away. Now, he THROWS himself into the pool WITHOUT holding our hands! Even flings himself, belly flop style, into the baby pool - try catching that!

His progress is awesome & I'm so proud of him for excelling at this at such a quick rate & enjoying every minute of it. He asks to go in the pool all day long. Gets his trunks & swimmie diaper out of the closet and brings them over to me and says "swim". It just seems like he cannot get enough of it!

And I have to tell y'all that we've "trained" him not to run but to WALK and it's the funniest little Loopholer walking you will ever see. He like hop, skip & jumps along - one leg firmly walking & the other one jacked up a little but not running and he hunches down to further illustrate he is walking! I've given the lifeguards the OK to blow the whistle at him when he runs because I believe strongly (hello, 6 years of lifeguarding) that running is way dangerous and learning to walk around the pool at all times is fundamental to pool safety. He has learned to listen to the whistle (really only happens once or twice) and I've learned that I can still bark out a full on WALK command without realizing I'm going to do it.

There's one lifeguard there that he has taken quite a shine to also. She's never really paid him any extra special attention but I guess what she has given him has struck a chord. She was the first one to blow the whistle at him & she's usually in the pool teaching lessons when we go after 6pm so he probably interacts with her the most out of all of them (as opposed to the ones who listen to their iPods while guarding, but that's an entirely different post). On Sunday, she wasn't working but showed up for whatever reason. He saw her walking outside the fence & Pool Walked over to the fence and YELLED HI to her! Then he went over to the entrance from the shower/changing rooms & WAITED for her to come through and when she did he HUGGED her & asked her to "rarry me" (Liam-->English-->carry)! And she did :) He kept asking her to get in the pool with him & it was so cute. She had to keep telling him that she wasn't working that day but the next time she saw him so would swim with him. I have no idea what brought this on & he's never acted that way with a "stranger" before but I loved that he recognized her & asked her to play with him basically.

He has gone under the water a handful of times "accidentally" but with no repercussions. I'm not a big worrier about him going under as we are ALWAYS right_there to bring him back up & most of the time this happens because he thinks he is a Bigger Boy than he really is. He loves to play on the steps & walk up and down them and refuses to let me hold his hands when he gets to the step that will put him under the water. I tell him repeatedly that he's not tall enough & that he will go under if he continues down that path but he doesn't pay any attention & just goes for it. He never reacts beyond rubbing the water out of his eyes & only once was his mouth open so he allowed me to hold him while he coughed it off. But the thing with Liam is he never really gets effected by these things, he just coughs them off & I find that a wonderful trait to possess. So I don't fret or hover or gasp, I just haul him back up (him not realizing just yet that all he has to do is stand up) and give him a hearty "WOW YOU WENT UNDER!" and we are on our merry way. He really enjoys throwing one of his toys (bathtub toys) into the pool and leaping after them, I think he's picked this up from watching the older kids just toss themselves into the pool. My main Worry (yes, now it's a capital W) is that he's going to get into the habit of just tossing himself in without making sure one of us is there to retrieve him, he doesn't want us there to guide him in but he needs us there to catch him, regardless of if we are holding his hands on the way down or not. And what two year DOES understand that?

And here's the part where I rant about floaties. I hate them. I think and strongly believe that they are a false sense of security. Almost every kid there wears them & I think it's stupid (not you, you're not stupid cause I like you.). Once before one kid (who was probably around 6 years old) had his floaties on because dad was still blowing them up, he just dropped himself right into the pool. And dad had to jump in after him (don't ask what the idiot lifeguards were doing cause my ass was off that chair already on my way to the kid...) and save him. The kid was panicking hard core, he bobbed 3 times before the dad got to him. And you know what? I think he was tall enough to just stand up but was freaked out without his floaties bringing him right back up that he had no idea how to do that. Now this all stems from those 6 years as lifeguard/swim instructor but let me tell you - Liam will NEVER WEAR FLOATIES. NEVER. I'm sure most kids have near-drowning experiences because they tried to swim without them and instead of saving their lives it could cause them to lose it. Now, let's not be stupid here, Liam will wear a life-jacket when necessary and he will play with noodles & yes, he has a float toy that he sits in BUT he is only two years old and not capable of supporting himself in the water (not talking about life-jackets he'll wear one of those until he's old enough to make his own stupid decisions [about 25 years old according to me]). And anyway, you should be IN the water with them until they (and sometimes even after) they are fully capable of swimming and breathing on their own. And I say "even after" because kids get extremely worn-out and that whole "don't know they just need to stand up" thing comes into play more often than you know. Trust the swim instructor when they tell you this. So this ends my Pool Safety Floaties are the Devil lecture.

I'm going to be really bummed when the pool closes over Labor Day but I know that we will be signing him up for more Mommy & Me lessons over the fall & winter.