T loves to swim. Always has. I take that back - save her very first swim at 5 months when her Mum neglected to test the temperature of the frigid water, Teagan loves to swim. Anywhere. Like in a tote in our backyard. White trash, I know, but she didn't seem to mind.
We bought her a Puddle Jumper, which has foam water wings attached to a vest. It has been one of the best kid investments (can you call $15 an investment?) so far. It took her a few minutes to figure out how to stay on her front, and from then it's been a cinch. She loves the independence and is confident and happy being on her own in the middle of the pool - don't worry, I'm always watching...WAY too many drownings in Las Vegas for me not to be vigilant. Seeing how comfortable she is, people ask me about the Puddle Jumper all the time.
A neighbourhood nanny/certified lifeguard was offering swim lessons for littles, so we opted to sign her up, since it was only a few houses down and I thought it couldn't hurt. Upon hearing at the first lesson that her goal was to make the kids comfortable in the water, I realized that it might not make a huge difference to Teagan, but we went anyway. She was joined by two little ladies from the ward who are only a few months younger than Teagan, but make her look like a monster. They were so cute in their matching little coverups that we couldn't help but take a photo of the bathing beauties.
Perhaps part of the appeal of swimming is the constant snack breaks and delicious treats that accompany us every time, but she seems to genuinely enjoy the water.
Heaven forbid she see her bathing suit sitting out and we don't have plans to swim. Poor thing has insisted on wearing it anyway and wanders around the house in her swimsuit like a little lost sea turtle. But I know now not to put her swim diaper on until we're seconds from jumping in the pool. Back in May I learned the hard way that swim diapers don't actually absorb pee...but my friend's car seat does. To make matters worse, she was sweet enough to invite AND drive me to her pool party and I returned the favour with a wet, smelly car seat - sorry Britt!
We swam at my piano teacher's pool when we visited my parents and Teagan loved every minute. Without hesitation, she hopped up on the diving board and "jumped" off to her daddy in the deep end. Then she climbed up the water slide, slid down and "swam" over to the stairs to do the whole thing over again. We started out helping her at the top and catching her at the bottom, but before long she was doing it all on her own.
We tagged along to her cousins' swim lessons while we were in Moscow and bless my sister-in-law's heart, Tara looked after Teagan AND her son (3 months younger) in the wading pool because I hadn't brought my suit. Famous last words: "She shouldn't be too much work, she's pretty comfortable in the water. Poor Tara didn't have a second's rest between Teagan hanging out in water up to her chin, drinking water out of the pool toys and dumping buckets of water on Sam's head. Believe it or not, he was asking for it towards the end of the "game", not before she attacked Ben and Jessa once they were finished swimming. Who brought the bully? All I can say is thank you Tara for running swimming yourself ragged to keep my daughter from drowning. I'll bring my suit next time.
I'm so proud of my little water baby and hope we don't lose momentum while we can't swim in the winter. Although we did swim outside last week. Have I mentioned we love Las Vegas?
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