Swimming Fun!

Ella has been doing very well at swimming. She was just promoted to the "Marlin" level for her swimming lessons. As a marlin, she will be swimming the length of the pool doing freestyle and backstroke. She will also start learning how to do breaststroke kicks. She is such a good little swimmer! So far this month we have been to the pool everyday except Sunday. Ella is not only improving with her strokes she is also getting good with some tricks in the water. She can dive to the bottom of 3 ft and get dive sticks, she can do flips (she calls them tummy tucks) underwater, and she can hold her breath for quite some time. Shane and Ella like to sit on the bottom of the pool and see who can hold their breath the longest. She also likes to play "Marco, Polo" but still doesn't get the concept. She closes her eyes during the game even when she is not it. :) Here is some video of Ella doing freestyle the length (60 ft) of our neighborhood pool and then doing backstroke on the way back.

And then she goes back...

Here is some video of Ella playing around and Willow's new favorite game. Willow has never really liked the water all to much. She doesn't like the motion of the water (she doesn't like swinging either). This past week, however, she has gained some confidence in the water and loves to jump off the step and kick to someone and then kick back to the step. I have started taking a step back each time she does it to make it a little bit more challenging for her. She is improving on her floating but still doesn't like it. She is a kicker and kicks water all over the place when she floats, can't seem to break her of that habit yet.

I am so proud of how well both girls are doing at learning how to swim but it pales in comparison in the joy I get out of seeing them enjoy playing in the water and the happiness it brings them. I love that we have found an activity as a family that we can all do together and enjoy with each other. Even Willow who doesn't like the actual swimming loves to go the pool and splash around. Going to the pool together as a family and playing together has been the highlight of our day for this past month.