Swimming sans Mommy

The big boy is growing up even more... he is now swimming on his own. I can't really believe it. We started swimming lessons two months ago. He was scared of the water and didn't even really trust me to take him into the pool. On Wednesday of last week, I decided it was high time for him to let me let go. He can swim and swim well, but he was not ever going to let me let go. So, I just gave him an extra big push to the side of the pool and let him swim his way there. The look on his face when he realized he had done it on his own was priceless.

So, this Monday, I was eager to see how he would do. It's funny what a little push in the right direction can do for a kid... a little bit of extra confidence and he's telling me to let him go and not touch him. He even went under several times and jumped off the side without me catching him. Of course, we didn't leave Spiderman out of the equation. Jake pretended to shoot webs at me in the pool and use those webs to swim across the pool. Hilarious, but effective.

His instructor was as impressed as I was at his ability. We have often talked about how well he does, if only he would just garner up the confidence to do it on his own and go to a "big boy" class without mommy. By the end of the day on Monday, his instructor and I were discussing putting him in the same class as Bailey (which is actually skipping the beginner class and going to the advanced beginner class). If he'll swim on his back tomorrow, we might just do that. Imagine my world getting easier... two less swimming lessons to make it out to each week! WOO HOO!

That's another milestone reached and just in the nick of time. We're about to enter the time of year in which we spend lots of time in the water, either the pool or the lake. Thankfully, he'll be ready for it and we won't spend the first month easing him into the water.