In the Water

Austin is the most cautious kid I have ever met. He has always been this way. I think it was his caution that caused him to postpone attempting to walk for so long. It was this same caution that has prevented him from enjoying going down slides much until this last summer, and even still he is very hesitant to go down larger ones. This caution isn't always bad. After all, we haven't ever had to worry about Austin getting broken bones, prematurely loosing teeth, or needing to go get stitches. However, sometimes we wish we could get him to be a bit more relaxed about trying new things that are perfectly safe and that we are sure he would enjoy. Nearly all things related to swimming have been among those things.

Right after returning from our Washington trip, Austin started a couple weeks of swimming lessons. Despite much effort on the part of his teachers, Austin refused to put his head in the water. This was both frustrating while also being comical. For example, his class often played a game called "fish in a barrel" in which everyone held hands and circled around a participant in the middle while singing a song. The player in the middle is supposed to go under the water to duck below the arms of the other players and thus escape the ring. Austin loved this game, but instead of going under the water to get out of the circle, he would lift up the arms of two of the players so he could walk underneath.

This continued for over a week until we spent about an hour one day after lessons practicing in the bath tub with a slew of motivating factors at stake.

So, finally by the end of swimming lessons Austin was willing to put his head under the water, though some encouragement still helped.

And inspired by the promise of a treat, Austin even jumped into the water on his own (instead of  sitting on the poolside and sliding in or holding someone's hand the whole time).

He never did manage to figure out how to come even close to floating on his back though, and even now he does exactly opposite of what is necessary to achieve this position: head held up and feet sticking out into the air.
 

Sigh. Someday...

We have done a couple fun swimming/water activities since Austin finished his round of lessons too. For example, we recently ended up with a nice inflatable boat that didn't cost us anything. So, we invited my family and went out boating at the Jordenelle Reservoir.

 Summer activities are so much fun!