I think we have a swimmer on our hands!  I took Matthew to the pool for the first time today – and he loved it!  I wasn’t sure how he would take to it because he likes his baby pool I got for the yard, but he likes to be OUTSIDE it and leaning over the edge and splashing his toys around.  He loves his baths, so I was hopeful that with the pool being indoors, that it would be similar.

I went with a friend and she brought a floaty thing for him – and he liked that quite a bit.  But once he got comfortable, he wanted out of that thing and in the water!  My friend’s little girl will be 2 in August, so she’s a big kid compared to Matthew.  Everything she did – he wanted to do – including going down the slide.  I was very hesitant but my friend said that the gal who teaches the baby swimming class will put 6-month old babies down the slide – so we did it.  He loved it – but I didn’t like not having him in my arms so he only did it once  😉

We went to the deep end (of the kiddie pool – so my shoulders were still exposed) and he tried to get away from me several times.  He let me put him on his back, dunk him completely in the water (loved that!!!), put his face in so he could blow bubbles, splash him, and the big thing that he did was jump off the edge of the pool into my arms.  Holy smokes – everyone – this kid has nerves of steel!  I am not even elaborating here – my friend was shocked by his nerves.  He would stand there on the edge holding my hands, then put his hands above his head (“so big” style), and then grab my fingers and jump to me!  And if I put him on the wall seated, he would jump to me without holding onto my fingers.

It was a success!  There was not a single moment of tears, panic, etc.  When we started, he hung on pretty tight and nibbled my shoulder (I’m realizing that that’s his soothing mechanism which I should stop before it gets to be a problem – but it’s so darned cute!) but that was very short-lived.

We will do this weekly.  I had a ball!  We were in the water for an hour and a half.  And can I just say – I LOVED hanging out with my friend and her daughter!  They are going to join us each week which is very exciting for us.  I really needed the adult interaction!

We head up north in a couple days and they have an indoor pool, so I’m off to buy a new bathing suit on Friday.  The one I have is pinned up on the sides and the bottoms almost fall off when I get out of the water.  It does the job when we’re in the hot tub, but it’s not good for moving around in a real pool.  I HATE spending money on bathing suits (they are so expensive and I’m not secure in my shape and size) but I will do this for the boy.

The one problem we had was getting ready at the beginning and then redressing at the end.  There is no place to put your baby, so I had to literally put him in my duffel bag with stuff all around him to keep him in one spot while I changed.  We made it work, but it was concerning given that the entire dressing area was concrete.  After yesterday’s big event, I’m a little cautious.

Matthew had an unexpected play date then when he woke up from his afternoon nap.  His very first friend, Hailey, came over and they played like crazy!  They hugged, chased, and pummeled each other for well over an hour.  Matthew was exhausted after she left, and that was just an hour and a half after waking up from his nap.  Good times!

B asked if I took photos at the pool.  My response?  “Are you freaking crazy?!  There was no way I could take photos!”  He will get to see Matthew in his pool action come Sunday or Monday.  YAY!  He’s going to LOVE it!