We have a neat opportunity this summer.  A lady we know feels that all children should learn to swim as infants and has volunteered to let us use her pool to teach Henry to swim!  We have been waiting for the water to warm up and last week we took Henry swimming for the first time.  I guess technically he did a lot of swimming in the womb but it has been a few months and he is a little rusty.  Plus he has this new habit of breathing air now which makes swimming a little different from what he was used to.

He was really excited about the pool.  It is so much bigger and better than his little baby bathtub.

He tried to catch the air bubbles from the filter…..

…..and he liked to feel the rough texture of the steps.

He wasn’t too sure about floating on his back…..

…..but playing with Mom was fun!

He didn’t even mind when water would get in his face from all of his splashing.

After playing in the water for about 20 minutes I decided that it was time to dunk him under.  I blew in his face to get him to close his eyes and hold his breath. Stephen didn’t get any pictures of him under the water because he wasn’t under for very long.   Henry did fine the first two times I dunked him but after the third time he was done.  I think part of the problem was that he was getting cold.  The water was a little chilly.

I didn’t know how Henry would react to the water but I am happy with how well he did his first time swimming.  He usually sucks his thumb when he is uncertain about his surrounding but he didn’t suck his thumb at all until after the third dunk and he started to cry.   Maybe he will end up loving the water as much as his Dad.