Opposites

When it comes to being in the water my kids are as opposite as they come. The first time I ever took Bri into a pool he was about 1 year old, give or take a month. He freaked out like no other! He clawed my neck until it stung and bleed. He tried to crawl on to the top of my head. I laughed but not because I thought it was funny but because I couldn't believe what was happening and I didn't know how to react.
Jeremy's parents have a pool. Bri would have nothing to do with that pool. I had to talk to him and bribe him just to put his feet in the water. The only way he would touch the water was if everyone in the pool went to the other side. It took years to get him to even sit on the steps in the pool.
When we first moved to Utah we lived in an apartment. He wanted to hang out at the pool. Surprisingly he would get in but never let go of the side and never venture far from the steps. So I put the kids in swim lessons. Bri is 9 in these pictures. He does swim now but he'd prefer to not.

Now Jessica on the other hand is my fish. Her first time in the pool was at about 3 months old. And the only reason it took so long was because we had to wait for the pool to warm up. She never minded the pool. At the ripe old age of 1 she was in the pool in a floatation device and flipped it upside down trying to get a ball. I was out of the pool fully clothed and I freaked out and froze! Luckily daddy heard the commotion and ran to the back yard jumped in and flipped her back over. She laughed. Then later that summer she insisted she could swim. I though 'fine I will let her go and show her she can't' so I let go, held my breath so I would know how long she could stay under. When I pulled her out she smiled at me and said "see momma I can swim" I felt defeated. So of course when Bri took swim lessons so did Jess. The main thing they do with 3 year olds is teach them to float and flip over to breath. THANK GOD! The very next time I took her swimming she just went for it. Again I let her stay under thinking she really needs to learn and I am going let her stay under longer. Then she flipped got air and went back to her "swimming" Oh also when we lived in the apartments we had an incident where she was sitting with grandpa who didn't want to swim while the rest of us played. There were lots of people in the pool so the sound of a splash meant nothing to me. Next thing I know my F-I-L is in the pool fully clothed. Jess thought she could reach the noodle that was floating by and missed. He jumped in to get her. She laughed because grandpa went in the pool with clothes on. Yeah she is trouble.

Still to this day Jess is my fish and dreams of being on a swim team. The bad thing is with me doing daycare I make the money to put her through it but don't have the time to take her. All the high schools here have swim teams so maybe then. Bri still would rather not, but he's no longer afraid and will do some water activities.