Sunday, August 10, 2008

Mastering new skills!

The girls and I have gone to the pool a lot this year. We will spend 3 to 5 hours there when we go! It is so relaxing, the older two are off on their own and they will meet friends there, and Alexandria loves the sand and wadding pool. Anyway, this year Mary finally worked up the guts to go off the diving board (not to mention I bribed her with money, but only because she is a good swimmer, and has been for years, but she just never felt like she could swim in 16 feet of water!) I knew she would love it when she did it, and she sure did! The rest of that day she only went off the diving boards, well the low dives anyway. When we went the other day she went off the high dive, on her own, without me having to bribe her!

Now, Anna, she has been asking me (actually begging me) to let her use the diving boards since the day Mary first went off of them in the beginning of this summer. I have been hesitant only because she has only been able to swim well since this year and she wouldn't go where she couldn't touch the bottom. I told her that if she could jump in 5 feet and then swim to the edge I would let her go. Well, the same day Mary went off the high dive, Anna was practicing in 5 feet and finally felt comfortable in water that was deeper than she was tall. I still had a lot of hesitation just because Mary has been swimming for years, and Anna for only months. I let her try it. It was funny because the first few times up, she went to the edge and chickened out. She then told me that she'll need to wait till she is seven to do it, which I was fine with! Next thing I know she comes up to me and tells me that she's gonna do it, and she went right up there and jumped like it was nothing! She swam up to the edge just fine, and after that she wouldn't leave that area!

Ok, so that same day, Alex decides she wants to try the water slides. These aren't just little baby water slides, they are big, fast, and long and twisty slides that you would find at a big water park! She was just tall enough for them, secretly I was hoping she wouldn't be tall enough. The great thing about this pool is that the lifeguard will catch a non swimmer at the bottom if you ask them to. After waiting in the long line, down she went. To give you an idea about how long these slides are, I had enough time to run down a lot of stairs to meet her at the bottom in time! Poor baby, came down sideways, and it looked like that big bad slide whipped her all over the place! She was crying, so I thought she was scared. She was only upset because she had water in her eyes, she said the slide was not scary, it was fun!

So, ok, Mary goes down the high dive, Anna down the diving boards for the first time, and Alex down the giant slide..........Oh, my babies are growing up so fast!