4 little swimmers...

SO much has happened in the last week or so in regards to the tribe & swimming. I know that I have posted MANY times about how difficult & EXPENSIVE it has been to try to get all four of them swimming lessons. SO expensive that basically we just could not afford it so we have taught them ourselves. OK, actually their Daddy has taught them. I do not know exactly how he did it but he did! We went from having those Dollar Store swimmies {Even though they are cheap DON'T buy them!!}, to buying some AWESOME US Coast Guard approved "Puddle Jumper's", to FINALLY not wearing anything at all!! 

 

All I can say is that their Daddy has been VERY consistent & they are actually understanding what he's telling them. I think they listen to him more anyway! LOL! It's really been like a light went off & they finally got "it". My hubby is AMAZING! He has worked with them pretty much every night or every other night plus weekends on getting them to swim sans assistance. It was Avery, his "girl" that took to it first. I hate to admit it but she is our little daredevil so she will try anything at least once! Well it did not take her long to start LOVING it & she has been swimming without swimmies for over a week. Can you guess who our hold out was? It was actually a toss up between Cam & Bren. They were SO scared to part with their "life jacket" that they cried for a good part of an hour just at the thought of having to swim like a BIG kid! If it took Avery a day to learn this it took Lindsey a day and a half! She was right behind her sister in the swimming dept. In fact she can now do "tricks"! Yes, she calls it being a "mermaid". She will flip over as she is swimming to me. I think she looks like a "special" fish but if she thinks it's being a mermaid then it's being a mermaid! LOL! The best part is that she does all of this WITHOUT taking on water OR holding her nose! I am SO proud of her! In fact none of  them hold their nose. WOO HOO! I just hope that continues & they don't get to where they need to hold it! Fast forward to today when it was just them & me in the pool. Yes, Call me crazy but this is usually how it goes, them & me! {FYI, I make sure I have a cordless phone nearby just in case!} They were jumping in from our spa to swim to me. It's sad because they are really growing up! sniff sniff... I cannot tell you who was the fastest or kicked the hardest to swim to me! It was CRAZY! I felt like we were like this well oiled machine that ran SO fast! As soon as one child asked "Can I swim to you Mommy?" and took off the next child was right there in the wings about to take off themselves. {FYI, I make them ask to swim to whomever so no one, mostly ME,  is ever unprepared to have a kid headed in their direction! [=} Picture this times FOUR & they kept going turn after turn! I do not know who was more tired, them or me! What's even crazier is that by looking at all four of them you would never even know that one started swimming before the other one. They all look just like...
 

4 little swimmers...

4 little swimmers...

SO much has happened in the last week or so in regards to the tribe & swimming. I know that I have posted MANY times about how difficult & EXPENSIVE it has been to try to get all four of them swimming lessons. SO expensive that basically we just could not afford it so we have taught them ourselves. OK, actually their Daddy has taught them. I do not know exactly how he did it but he did! We went from having those Dollar Store swimmies {Even though they are cheap DON'T buy them!!}, to buying some AWESOME US Coast Guard approved "Puddle Jumper's", to FINALLY not wearing anything at all!!   

All I can say is that their Daddy has been VERY consistent & they are actually understanding what he's telling them. I think they listen to him more anyway! LOL! It's really been like a light went off & they finally got "it". My hubby is AMAZING! He has worked with them pretty much every night or every other night plus weekends on getting them to swim sans assistance. It was Avery, his "girl" that took to it first. I hate to admit it but she is our little daredevil so she will try anything at least once! Well it did not take her long to start LOVING it & she has been swimming without swimmies for over a week. Can you guess who our hold out was? It was actually a toss up between Cam & Bren. They were SO scared to part with their "life jacket" that they cried for a good part of an hour just at the thought of having to swim like a BIG kid! If it took Avery a day to learn this it took Lindsey a day and a half! She was right behind her sister in the swimming dept. In fact she can now do "tricks"! Yes, she calls it being a "mermaid". She will flip over as she is swimming to me. I think she looks like a "special" fish but if she thinks it's being a mermaid then it's being a mermaid! LOL! The best part is that she does all of this WITHOUT taking on water OR holding her nose! I am SO proud of her! In fact none of  them hold their nose. WOO HOO! I just hope that continues & they don't get to where they need to hold it! Fast forward to today when it was just them & me in the pool. Yes, Call me crazy but this is usually how it goes, them & me! {FYI, I make sure I have a cordless phone nearby just in case!} They were jumping in from our spa to swim to me. It's sad because they are really growing up! sniff sniff... I cannot tell you who was the fastest or kicked the hardest to swim to me! It was CRAZY! I felt like we were like this well oiled machine that ran SO fast! As soon as one child asked "Can I swim to you Mommy?" and took off the next child was right there in the wings about to take off themselves. {FYI, I make them ask to swim to whomever so no one, mostly ME,  is ever unprepared to have a kid headed in their direction! [=} Picture this times FOUR & they kept going turn after turn! I do not know who was more tired, them or me! What's even crazier is that by looking at all four of them you would never even know that one started swimming before the other one. They all look just like...
 

4 little swimmers...

the monkey crawl...

Having a swimming pool & a pond in your backyard creates quite the dilemma when you have 4 toddlers who cannot swim. Swimming lessons X4, YIKES! I have checked into it & though important it's also VERY expensive! So where do you find the money?Looks like at least for now it will be Michael & I giving them half assed lessons. I keep telling myself that it is better than nothing! We really are SO lucky to have built our pool BEFORE quads because we never would have built one after them. Heck we would never have been able to afford one now! CRAZY but true! SO we're lucky, broke people with FOUR munchkins that need to learn how to swim! I take them all out in the pool pretty much every day. In the beginning it was rough. They did NOT like it if the water was TOO cold or better yet they did not like going under the water. My how things change with just a few short months. They LOVE it! They will sometimes stand pointing out the sliding glass door "MY pool". I kid them & say NOOO it's MY pool & they would joke back saying it was theirs. We went all out & got ALL the bell's & whistles. At that time we had the money & I never thought I'd become a mommy so this was to be my "sanctuary".


Well it turned out better than we could have expected & now 3 1/2 years later it has served us well! We have a sun shelf where if I ever sunbathed I'd lay out & get my vitamin D. But now it is their playground. The perfect place for a toddler to play! They actually behave & stay there while I bring one of the tribe out into the pool for some "mommy swim lessons".




The twins, Avery & Lindsey, aka "The twins", are WILD! They will jump in towards you, go under the water & come up grinning! Nothing phases them! Brendan is becoming a little fish. He is cautious but LOVES it when I take him under water or get him kicking those legs of his. PLUS he does not want to leave the pool when it's time to go in. Then there's Camryn, the MOST cautious one of all. She can perform leaps & bounds above the rest of them BUT does it the safest way possible. She watches & learns from EVERYONE.She pays attention & sees everything!







My six year old niece can swim like a fish & there was Camryn watching her EVERY move. In two short days she taught Camryn what we've been trying to teach her, them, since March. How to grab onto the side of the pool if they ever fell in & get back to the steps. My cousin Lori started showing them that & we have repeated it hoping they would "get" it. Thanks to Lauren our Camryn can now go all the way around the pool doing...







the monkey crawl...