Little Fish

We have trying to hit the Ramsey pool pretty regularly (gotta make that membership worth its pricetag!), and a couple of weeks ago, James really got into dunking himself!

He'll just be standing there in the shallow part (our pool has a lovely 1.5-3 foot section in the main pool-- no baby pool for us!) and suddenly squat down and go underwater.  He comes up grinning and blinking and so proud.

Last week one day, when I told him it was time to go, he said, "Just three more dunks."
"Okay.  One....two...."
"Actually, five more."
"...three...four..."
"Actually, eight more."
"...five...six...seven..."
"Actually twelve more!"
"eight... nine...ten... eleven...."
"Actually zero more!"  Now, I think he thinks zero means infinity, because he certainly didn't stop after dunk number twelve.  And these were in pretty rapid succession!

He's been keeping it up and even added a "back dunk" to his repertoire this week.  It's a slightly terrifying move in which he arches his back and submerges his head to varying depths.

And after taking Auntie Maggie and her friend Joe to the pool on Tuesday, James became inspired to swim underwater on Wednesday!  He kept saying, "I'm swimming underwater like Joe!"  I had one hand on him most of the time, but there were a couple of instances where he went for it unassisted!  He got a foot or two before coming up.  Again, blinking and smiling and proud.  He did it again today.

His other pool skill is working on the proper use of a kickboard.  He borrowed one from a friend last weekend and a stranger today.  (Literally, he got out of the pool and asked a woman if he could borrow the kid-sized kickboard she was toting before I even realized what was happening!  And she let him!)  he's doesn't always have perfect form, but he's working on it.

With over a month to go of summer pool time, I'm anxious to see what he'll be doing in the water by the time Labor Day rolls around!