Fishy Milestones

Well we've had some major milestones reached in our family this week...all 3 children had firsts in the pool! Rebecca Jane got her first chance to splash around in our pool tonight...she loved it (as much as you can at 2 months old) and the boys LOVED having her in with them. She was a trooper...she fell asleep right as we were getting the boys cleaned up after dinner and ready for their "backyard bath" (swim time often replces bathtime these days!). But I had it in my mind she was getting in...she was already decked out in her swimsuit and everything so...of course we woke her up and plopped her in the pool! We NEVER would have done that with Will; but with child #3 we've learned sometimes/often times you just have to wake them to make things happen! The splashing from the boys didn't phase her and she even spent some time sunbathing on a raft. I'm sure not the last time that will happen!

Sound asleep before splash day at home:

Grady giving RJ the lay of the land:

Lounging on the raft with Will:

Grady's milestone was jumping off the "big boy diving board" at the country club! Will has been taking a lesson up there the last couple weeks and Grady has been eyeing the diving board and especially all the big boys (teenagers) as they do flips, cannonballs, etc. Will usually hightails it there after his lesson is over and Grady LOVES to watch "brudder" jump off the diving board all my himself. Grady has stood in line several times and gets to the steps and then runs off, a little scared...it has sort of become a game. I think in his mind he really couldn't do it...just another thing only Will could do. It's been interesting to watch because Grady is typically the fearless one. He's the one that greets EVERYONE who walks by him, tries his very best to keep up with Will in any activity he does...all in all Grady is pretty uninhibited (one of his many nicknames is Mr. Independent). So the fact that he hadn't tried going off the diving board and was even a little scared of it amazed me. Well, all 5 of us along with B and Pops were there on Friday swimming and playing and Greg and I decided we'd try to encourage him to do it. So, Will jumped off, then Greg jumped, then it was Grady's turn. Greg was in the water of course, and hand in hand Grady and I got on the diving board then he confidently took it from there. Walked to the end of the board and off he went!!! He was SO PROUD and it was so wonderful to see...what a big boy! Of course that's where he and Greg spent the next 30 minutes doing jumps over and over.

Lifeguard in training:"I put my eyes in da water":The big jump!

Will has had several firsts this week...he made it to the bottom of our pool, a feat he has been trying to master all summer. He LOVES to swim underwater and he's been trying to get to the bottom of our deep end as soon as he realized he could be a "deep water swimmer". Greg has taken him down to the bottom of the deep end many times but he never had gone on his own. Tonight, he and Greg held hands to go down there first then Greg threw a diving stick down for him to retrieve...after a little convincing that the drain was nothing to be concerned about...he did it! The other big milestone this week was that Will has started wanting to go to public bathrooms on his own. Now, this may seem weird for it to fall under swimming related things but the first time he did this was at the country club...a pretty safe place to begin I guess. The first day this happened it was just me and the kids...Greg was still at work. It also may not seem like much of a milestone but let me assure you that when your little boy is all alone in a room that you can't go into and there isn't a male back up in case it takes longer than you think it should...your mind starts to race! Will did great...Mom on the otherhand had to keep her imagination in check and not think about all the things (and scary men) that could hurt him when out of my sight. :-) It actually wasn't too bad the first time but then the next day he wanted to go into the men's room at Home Depot! He's just getting so big...it's so fun but bitterwseet at the same time. All this to say, if you see a mom waiting impatiently outside a men's room, keeping an eye on her watch and looking every man square in the face that goes in there...just know it's probably the beginning of freedom in a little boy's life.