Staying Cool in the Pool

This summer has been a HOT one! We've spent many days cooling off at our community pool. Ethan showed off his awesome swimming skills by passing the swim test (an unassisted swim across the deep end)--thus granting him access to join the big kids riding the slides and jumping off the diving board. After five years of being too little for the slides, it truly was a glorious day. He wore his wrist band with the pride of an Olympic medalist and pointed it out to many friends (and a few strangers). With my youngest now swimming I have graduated to a mom who can sit at the side of the pool and read...however it's been so hot I've opted to swim with the kids instead--but I love that I have the choice!

The day after Ethan first jumped off the diving board he told Isaac he was going to do a front flip off the diving board. Isaac tried to talk him out of it but when Ethan refused to listen Isaac defered to me, "Mom! Ethan says he's going to do a front flip off the diving board!" I told him it could hurt his back or maybe he could hit his head and that maybe he should wait until he was a little bigger. He kept pestering me till I finally relented assuming he wouldn't actually do it. When we got to the pool all the kids scattered. A few minutes later I was scanning the pool for Ethan when he approached me from the direction of the diving pool with a huge grin across his face. Yes, he'd marched straight up to the diving board and done a front flip all by himself. The boy's got guts that's for sure!