Damon and I took Sullivan to the pool today. We have a new membership to the northwest Austin YMCA and they have one of the neatest outdoor pools with giant fountains and slides and a beach style entrance. I have wanted to get Sullivan over there for the last several weeks and as you saw in my earlier posts we bought all the training swim gear so we were ready to go.

He was a bit overwhelmed at first. He loves the water and has been in small kiddie pools before but just didn’t know what to do at the sight of the giant “bath”. The entrance to the pool was sloped and slanted like a beach so we took our time and walked in slowly as he was a bit confused. He was doing his typical excited shake. Shaking not because he was frightened but because he was so intense with focus and enthusiasm trying to figure all of it out. I finally picked him up and took him out to the deep end (only 4 ft. ) and let him float and bounce in the water and he looked so surprised. I mean we had him in a real pool last summer but I doubt he remembered it so he just had this look like “how did you get a bath so BIG”. Well before I knew it he was wanting to swim on his own and dunk his head under the water. I pulled him around and around like a speed boat by his arms and under his chest and he had a blast. Damon was on the poolside documenting the entire experience and captured some great shots. Sullivan would have made his uncle Jimmy proud today with his natural take to swimming and putting his head under water. He still had a few moments that made him worried and when his Nemo wetsuit rolled him over and dunked his head he would get a bit started but as soon as he was up and safe he’d wade back into the deep end and try and repeat the stunt again. And once he gained confidence maneuvering in the water he moved about quite freely exploring and splashing and frolicking in the pool.
Anyway, looking forward to more pool time this summer and teaching Sullivan how to paddle and kick and hold his breath under water. I mean he has about 11 more months to go to beat his mothers record for jumping off a diving board at the age of 3.