Our Little Swimmer!

This last spring we started Madi in swim lessons for the first time.  She was just shy of 3 years old and had never taken any sort of class on her own.  We weren't sure how she'd do, but we talked up swim lessons like we were going to Disney Land and hoped for the best!

She was definitely the youngest in the group, although almost the tallest too and she loved the idea of having a "teacha" and getting all geared up (aka: an excuse to pack a bag with her suit and towel and 45 other things...).  It didn't take her long to feel comfortable putting her head under the water and chugging that delicious salty/chlorinated concoction.  When we went on vacation to Sun River in June we could tell swim lessons had paid off because this girl was a water worm! We strapped her life jacket on her and she swam the entire day by herself - insisting on Matt or me following her around wherever she wanted to go! As far as she was concerned, she could swim! 

So... we signed up for a second round of lessons this summer and most weeks I loaded the kids up in the double BOB and made the one mile trek to the pool in the sunshine.  Our community has free lunches for kids during the summer and the "lunch truck" (Madi's words) comes to the park next to the pool from 12-12:45ish.  Most days we would grab a lunch and have a picnic after swim lessons and take our sweet time wandering home.  It was lovely. 

This girl is a WEIRDO. I tried taking her picture and got a series of about 8 pictures that look a lot like this one...

By the last day of lessons, Madelyn was able to float on her back all the way across the pool by herself.  She even swam without help on her second to last lesson, which in turn made her think that she could swim.  Duh.  Subsequently when her teacher took the next student out, Madi decided to jump off the wall and swim all by herself.  

She sunk.

Fast.

The high school lifeguard reached down and picked her up off the bottom of the pool.  Unfortunately, it didn't seem to bother Madi. After all, she can totally swim...

Almost every morning this summer Madi would wake up and ask, "Momma, is it slide day?" She LOVES the water slide and would often sneak in line a third time if no one caught her! She plays innocent really well already...

*sigh*

It's rough being this cute. 

We always ended our excursion with a trip to the park. Madi loves pushing Emmitt (or Mr. Smoochems) in the swing.  

Thankfully, he loves it too!

We looked forward to our Tuesday/Thursday excursions and hope to hit the pool more this winter when the days are long and dreary and we need to get out of the house! But as for now, we'll just keep enjoying the sunshine!!!