We went to the Hot Springs again. That's three times in three weeks. The boys are getting so much more comfortable in the water. I have to find someone to give them some private swim lessons sometime so they can get better instruction than I can give them.
Peter's getting pretty confident picking up diving sticks. He's just find going under the water. It's so cute when he says he's going to "dive". He puts his arms out in front of him, points his fingers down and almost belly flops (gently) on top of the water. He's able to reach diving sticks from the bottom of places where he can stand, but he's still a ways from figuring out how to go down instead of just straight forward.
He's also been practicing floating on his back. He gets closer and closer to figuring it out. It's so hard for me to explain or show him because it's been so long since I learned. Now it comes so naturally for me. I can keep my head out of the water on my back even if the rest of me is under the water. But it seems like the way to learn is to practice keeping your whole body along the surface.
Then there's Grady. Last week, he decided he was ok dunking his head. Most of the time he'd plug his nose, but he was going under pretty good. Today he practiced that a bunch. I think he totally likes being in the water. Which is funny because of the two of them, Grady was the one that would freak out as a baby at the pool. Now, he stands wherever he feet can touch the ground, dunking himself up and down pretty constantly. Breath, dunk and hold, breath, dunk and hold. Grandma was trying to tell him something and he wouldn't stop at all.
After he got comfortable dunking again, he decided he could basically "dead man float". Face down, arms out, legs behind. He decided that's how he was going to "swim" around the pool. He did it a couple times knowing that I was in front of him, so he'd grab my arm for me to pull him up. Then he started doing it with absolutely no caution. Whether I was there or not, he was going to "swim". Without propulsion, I was always able to get to him before he ran out of air. But then he'd start getting upset... "I am doing it myself, stop touching me", "I was doing fine, you didn't need to pull me up". All those sorts of words, even though he knew he couldn't actually stand where he was.
I'm glad he's feeling more comfortable and confident, but he's definitely one to watch now. He could really get himself into a scary situation until he figures out some of the limits of his ability. I think once he figures it out, he might want to be on the swim team or something. He looks like the water really works for him. Like he feels more comfortable with himself when he's in the water. Peter likes the water too, but doesn't seem to have the same level of fishiness. We'll see what the future holds. If they get some decent lessons and make some progress, they could both probably think about swim team-type stuff next summer...if they feel like it.
And tonight as I was tucking Grady into bed, he asks "is there something with eyes, a mouth and wheels that's real?". I answered that I couldn't think of anything. And he said "well, I'm pretty sure I saw something like that last night while I was in bed". His dreams seem like they're so vivid. I'm starting to think that he must live in his imagination a lot. He doesn't hear me calling him all the time and he totally spaces out when I tell him to do something, so maybe he's got another world in his head all day.
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