Jacob was in level II and got a little more comfortable swimming on his back, but still cannot do it alone; the teacher has to hold a hand under his head. Merrilee completed level III and learned to do the crawl and breast strokes. Learning to swim with her head out of the water was a big challenge. She can swim just fine under water, but above water and/or coming up for air takes a little more coordination.
Yesterday was the big finish, and they had the diving board/slide event in the deep end. Jacob asked me if he could go without his life vest, but I had to gently request that he wear one. He still has to stop to touch the bottom with his feet every few strokes--I didn't think that would work with him in 12 feet of water.
Katie Mei got in on the action, too. Merrilee's instructor came up to me and asked if I'd like her to take Katie Mei down the slide, since Katie Mei was just sitting around with nothing to do while I took photos. So I asked Katie Mei if she wanted to go down the slide and she said "Yes". She didn't look like she was thrilled, but at least she wasn't afraid. I thought that was really nice of Ms. Linley to offer.
Merrilee did her first actual dive off the board, where her feet didn't jump out ahead of her. It looked more like a belly-flop to me, but her instructor gave her credit for a dive because she finally didn't put her feet out first (like in the first two photos). Notice, there is no life vest on this girl. And this is in 12 feet of water!
Now I'm told I need to get Merrilee on a swim team to really hone her skills. I've heard this from several people. So I guess next year we'll be looking at more hours spent at the pool. It's going to take me a whole fall, winter, and spring to get ready for that.
Love,
Petrie
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