Swimming Lessons!

This kid does it all! He has no fear and is ready and willing to try anything you throw at him! This time it just happened to be swimming and he LOVED it!!

I have never talked much about Ethan’s daycare class, but Ethan is in a class with 10 kids – 8 being boys – 5 being boys that are JUST like Ethan! So needless to see they are VERY busy; so when I found out that he would be able to take swimming lessons with his class I wasn’t sure if this was a good idea or not…

However, the class went well thanks to 2 very patient, sweet instructors! He has always stayed pretty close to the ledge when it came to swimming and would never get too far away but by the end of his 3 weeks of lessons he was able to put his head under, kick his feet, jump off the board, dive for toys, swim on his back (with his instructor holding him) and he had a new found love for water!




On his last day of lessons the kids got to spend the entire session on the diving boards! Well, Ethan....being Ethan....insisted of jumping off the board without his life jacket AND without his instructor in the water to catch him! Everyone looked at him like he was crazy because he is not THAT good at swimming and we are talking about 12 feet of water here!! BUT, we agreed and had 3 lifeguards standing right on the ledge ready and willing to jump in if they were needed! And.....needed they were!!

Ethan started out running towards the end of the board but once he got close to the end I think he realized 1) how fast he was going 2) he didn't have a life jacket 3) there was no one right below him to catch him; and he unsuccessfully tried to stop but instead ran out of room and did a 1/2 barrel roll 1/2 front flip off the high diving board! We were not sure if he was going to be able to pop out of the water the same way he would have had he went in feet first so there were 3 lifeguards that jumped in right after him! They pulled him above the water and he had the biggest eyes I have ever seen, but in Ethan fashion he climbed right back up on the diving board and tried it again!! I LOVE THIS KID!! :)

Sprinting off the front of the board....

Falling off the front end and landing head first into the pool....

Lifeguard Sadie to the rescue! Look at those eyes!!

And to top it all off – HE PASSED!

So, next summer we are off to Level II :)