Gills?

We know he has limb differences. Perhaps he has gills???

In the bath, he loves to have his ears under water!

At the pool:

Swimmers, set your mark!
Get Set!

GO!!!

Will LOVES swimming! I know I'm his mom & I'm biased but, wow, he amazes me! Just this week, he taught himself how to dive to the bottom stair & grab a toy & bring it back up - amazing for any 2 years & 3 days old kid - but throw in the fact that he has to use both hands to carefully grab the toy & hold it & depend on his legs to kick him back up - wow!

About 3 weeks ago, he began pushing himself off of the stairs or shallow end, going underwater, & alternating his arms while kicking his legs (attempting the freestyle stroke but he by no means has mastered it - he's only 2!). He is finally getting the idea that at some point, he has to turn back around for safety.

I love his total abandon while swimming but I do wish he had just a bit of caution!

He also started throwing himself backwards this week & sometimes he even adds a "spin" under water. Our rule this week has been, "no throwing your head backwards in the shallow end- you must go backwards to the deep water." The rules I've had to come up with for my thrill loving little boy just amaze me. Oh my goodness, my little daredevil makes me stay very observant.

Seriously, he is hardly ever above water! He prefers to have his head underwater. He comes up for quick breaths (grinning the whole time!) & shoots back down again. I make him take little "breathing breaks" in the shallow end.

Even in the shallow water of our backyard pool today, he practiced his "swimmer's arms" & tried to stay under!

New things for my daredevil, thrill-seeker toddler this week:

He did a flip ALL BY HIMSELF at gymnastics! He's been practicing at home for about a week & suddenly at gymnastics, he ran up a yellow ramp & just flipped! Shocked me! (He's got his Uncle Adam's genes I think!)

He jumped off the diving board at the Dunn's pool. (Actually, he was all confident & wanted to do it until he was up there by himself & got nervous. Mrs. Dunn "helped" him by gently dropping him off.) He came out of the water (I caught him, of course) a little upset- until Mr. Performance Driven child saw his audience clapping. Then he was very proud of himself & later bragged to Daddy.

I called his old swimming instructor yesterday to see what his options are for the winter. He loves swimming so much & is so comfortable in the water, I don't want him to lose that over the next 9 months! I also believe it is such a great, total body workout (especially when one swims the way he does!) & a lifelong sport so I'd love to see him continue. We'll see what she comes up with for him!