Mommy's little swimmer's!

I must say that I am very proud of my two kids and their lack of fear of the water. It's been a tough job this summer with Dakota because of his fearless attitude. I even let him go to the bottom of the pool at the beginning of the summer to try and scare him, and he came up laughing. We tried every floatation device possibly (except for the arm floats because they are TERRIBLE for kids when teaching them to swim later). We tried the ring and he liked it for about 30 seconds and then he just looked at you and put his arm straight up and smiled as he went through the hole. So we decided we were just going to have to hold him and hope he catches on. He has done more than that. He can now hold his breath, blow bubbles, and kick his feet and glide short distance. Much better than Sadie at that age. I just hope it carries over to next year when he can actually cognitively learn how to swim. Sadie has also picked up where she left off from last year. She was a little afraid at the beginning of the summer, but that fear is completely gone. She has really progressed in the last couple of weeks and especially today. She can now jump off the side and swim back to the side. She can dive for diving sticks (which is her favorite), and she can even do a flip on her own now. She loves the water and basically just loves swimming more than playing. I am actually thankful that she is a bit short because that has forced her to swim since she can't stand up at either pool that we go to. What I am most proud of is what she accomplished today. She can finally take breaths which help her to swim a greater distance. Today at the Cookes' pool I made a deal that if she would swim all the way to the latter she could get this water gun that she has wanted all summer. She seriously practiced for 45 minutes and she had to do it without me in the pool because I told her we had to have it on video. Believe it or not, SHE DID IT!!! She now has a lot more confidence in herself and I love it that she accomplished this on her own. Here are a couple of videos of our little ones! So proud! Thank you Lord for helping them learn such an important thing about safety!