Biking and swimming

As I already mentioned, we bought Jack a bigger bike after he learned to ride his two-wheeler without training wheels.  He has been all about riding in the cul de sac in front of our house with our little neighbor friend.  Our neighbors' boy is the same age as Jack, and he is really into BMX and doing tricks.  Jack recently learned how to hop the curb on his bike, which he thought was really cool.  Normally, we just let the boys ride in the street between our two houses (they live four doors down).  The boys like to pedal as fast as they can down the street and then skid to a stop on our driveway.  Our driveway has a bunch of long skinny skid marks from their tires.

Inspired by her brother, Violet has finally figured out how to pedal and steer on Jack's old tricycle.  She had received a balance bike for her second birthday, but I think it's still a little too big for her to easily ride.  With her tricycle, as with walking, it seemed to take her a while to figure out how to do it.  But once she got going, she was pedaling and negotiating the curve of the cul de sac like a pro within a week.  I took video of her riding last week, and she was so cute.  She kept saying, "Go, Violet, go, Violet! Wheee!" as she was riding.

Jack has also made great progress with his swimming.  I no longer feel I need to get in the pool with him to keep him safe.  Even though his technique needs a bit of work, he can swim from one end of a pool to another without help, and he can certainly make it to the side of the pool to climb out if he ever accidentally falls in.  Of course, I still make sure he is supervised whenever he is in the water, but it's so nice to have the option of letting him swim without having to get all wet and chlorine-y myself.

Not only is he safer in the water, he is having a blast.  He loves to dive from diving boards, go down water slides, and jump in from the side of the pool.  He and his friends have little swimming races.  He dives down to the bottom and picks up swim toys.  It is so much fun seeing him have fun.

We did two sessions of swim lessons this summer, and I think they really helped.  We could have done an extra one to help him practice his arm strokes and side breathing. Right now, when he does his freestyle stroke, his right (non-dominant) arm comes up a bit short. I believe it is common for new swimmers' non-dominant arms to have problems coming all the way out of the water.  When he tries to side breathe, he ends up flipping over on his back.  I think it's because this is how the swim instructors were teaching him.  His current technique is mostly a doggie paddle, where he pops his head out of the water like you would during the breast stroke. I would like him to be able to be a little more efficient with his effort, if only to save his energy, and that will only come about as he improves his form.  But it was starting to get a bit onerous being tied to the schedule of lessons every day.  I think I will re-enroll him next year if we can find a class that coincides with one for Violet.

As for Violet, she loves the water. She will voluntarily put her face in and kick.  She will bend down and dunk herself to pick up a ring that's on the step she is standing on.  This is a skill that Jack never mastered at her age, despite being in a swim playgroup with me from ages five to 29 months.  She likes to jump to us from the side of the pool and then have us put her face in the water and glide her to the wall or steps.  She's actually pretty good at floating on her stomach and ok at floating on her back, although we do have to hold her when she does it.

It's funny how different kids are.  At Violet's age, I had already been going to this little Mommy and Me swim playgroup with Jack for nearly two years.  I'm glad we did it, because it was something to do and good way to see our friends.  But I don't think he ever got as comfortable in the water in all that time as Violet is now.  In fact, she will play on the steps of a swimming pool while I'm not even in the water with her.  I still want to be within arm's reach of her, just in case she slips, but Jack would never get in the pool unless he was clinging to me the entire time.  This state of affairs continued until he was well past three. 

But what a difference a couple of years makes.  Just last week, we went to La Jolla Shores, a nearby beach on the ocean.  We normally go to bayside beaches, because they are easy to get to and, early on, because Jack found the calmer waters of the bay less frightening than ocean waves.  This was actually the first time we had been to the ocean this summer.  Jack had so much fun running in and out of the waves.  While I wasn't right on top of him, I made sure that I always had him in sight.

At one point, his friend brought out a boogie board.  Jack wanted to try it, and he was such a natural.  He had the biggest grin on his face when he was riding it.  I guess someone is going to need a boogie board!  After his friend left, Jack stayed in the water and started trying to body surf.  I was a little less comfortable with that, so I went in the water with him.  He would ask me when it was a good time to try to catch a wave, and he would try to kick himself in front of it.  Unfortunately, he never quite got the hang of it.  Most of the waves washed over him instead of pushing him from behind.  As he gets to be a bigger, stronger, more confident swimmer, I'm sure he will figure it out and love it as much as I do.

It's been such a fun summer so far and filled with milestones for both my kids.  Who needs kindergarten?