What a difference

Warning: proud mama post ahead!

About 11 months ago, we joined our local YMCA, mainly so I could try my hand at swimming in the lap pool. I took the kids to the family pool about once or twice a week for them to play in the water. Oliver was not quite 3 1/2 years old, and Buttercup was 16 months old.

Buttercup loved the pool and would dive under and hold her breath, then come up giggling. She also refused to wear a life jacket, of course. ;-) But Oliver was genuinely terrified of getting into what he called the "deep water" of the family pool -- ranges from 3 1/2 feet to 4 feet. He would insist on wearing a life jacket, even in the shallow 1 foot area, and if we ventured out onto the steps that led to the deeper water, he would start crying and clinging to me or the handrail for dear life. When I would ask him if he would like to take swim lessons, he would become almost hysterical.

Over time (maybe after seeing his fearless baby sister in the water), he eventually let me carry him out into the deeper water, and we would float around and play until he got scared again.

Then, about 4 months ago (right before his 4th birthday!), he became more daring in the pool. He stopped asking to wear a life jacket, and he would walk to the steps and jump toward me with no problem! A couple of months after that, he realized that he could stand in the "deep water" (3 1/2 feet) and still have his head above water, and from then on he's been a total daredevil in the pool. He jumps off of the steps and swims to the wall, he tries to do somersaults in the water, he dives to the bottom of the pool to touch my feet. He'll even ask me to stand about 6 feet away from him and then he'll swim from the wall to me.

Today he stood on the ledge in the 4 foot area and jumped into the water over and over and over. After a while, he figured out how to hold his knees to his chest (kind of like a cannonball) to make a really big splash, and then he would sit on the bottom of the pool for a moment before popping up again!! He is even starting to get excited about taking swim lessons in a couple of months! It's just amazing to me, and I am just so proud of him! What a big boy. :-)