How we have Beat the Heat!

For the last few days we have had record heat. 25 degrees higher then we usually have this time of year. It has felt like Summer and I am not really that excited about it.
The kids started swim lessons this week too. This is Ian's first session of lessons and Sophie's 2nd session. Ian is doing so well. Up until about 2 weeks ago he wouldn't put his face in the water. When I told him he would need to be able to hold his breath and go under the water he (with prompting) has been practicing that last few weeks in the tub. He has been touching his nose to the bottom of the tub during his baths. It must have done the trick. He did great at his lesson. We still need to work on back floating however.

Along with lessons we have been to swim the last few afternoons. Henry was feeling a bit left out. All through the lessons he kept wanting to run into the pool and got swimming. I told him I would take him the next day. And since it was about 98 degrees that day it was perfect.

When we got to the pool. Before I had even put on his float vest (which is a must when you have one Mom and three kids to keep track of), Henry jumped into the pool. He was just so excited. But after flailing around a bit he allowed me to put his vest on. But once it was on and he knew he could float and would bob back up to the top if he jumped in he didn't want me to touch him.
I am not used to this. Usually when we have come swimming in the past he would just cling to me and I ended up having to carry him around during the whole swim. But now Henry is toodling around the pool by himself, jumping in off the side of the pool and even trying to float on his back.
Ian too has made huge progress in the pool. I think that fear of putting his head in the water really held him back. He has been roaming around the pool wearing his little float vest for awhile but he always refused to go under or jump off the sides. During his lesson he refused to jump in from the side without holding his teacher's hands. He tried that with me but instead I caught him. After a few jumps and catches I purposely let him go under. He popped back up and said "I can push off the bottom". That jumped changed everything. The next thing I knew he was jumping off the sides of the pool without me even having to be right there to catch him. I even saw him jump in holding Sophie's hand.
Speaking of Sophie.... she is a great swimmer! I am always surprised by how much she can do now. When only a year ago too wouldn't put her head underwater and I had to have her in a swim vest too. We may end up at the pool again tomorrow. It looks like we are in for another hot one tomorrow. I really have enjoyed having access to a pool. I also love that it is inside so we don't have to worry about sunscreen. We all Love the YMCA.