Swimming Daredevil

Caleb is getting more and more adventurous these days. His absolute favorite thing to do is to climb up on things. Usually, this means the box that his little bicycle seat came in. Lately, he's discovered that he can climb up onto the couch, though it's still quite a stretch for his little legs and isn't manageable in some outfits.

We went to the pool today. The weather here has been beyond gross lately. Three digit temps mixed with super smoky air. Caleb and I have been hiding out in the apartment going a little crazy. Today was nice though, so we ventured on over to the pool. At first, I put him in his floatie, but after a little while he was done with that. So I took him out and was just holding him. Well, it didn't take too long before he was done with that idea too.

He didn't want out of the pool. He simply wanted some freedom to do his own thing. Unfortunately for him, he has no idea how to swim. (Nor does he have any idea that this is a necessarily knowledge if Mommy is supposed to let go.) He was very brave though and would swim about with me barely holding onto him. He kicked whenever I told him to and would splash the water.

While we were sitting on the steps, I was trying to teach him how to blow bubbles in the water. I have no idea how one is supposed to actually teach a child this, since all Caleb managed to do was stick his face in the water repeatedly, often swallowing large amounts of the pool. Even when he choked a little, he didn't cry, nor did he want out of the water. He thought it was really funny to dunk his face in the water and would laugh ever time he did it. Though it probably encouraged him that I was laughing too. But it was just too cute and funny not to laugh.

He also made a lot of friends at the pool. He wasn't afraid to go up to strangers at all, which he normally is. He was still too shy to talk in front of anyone (except for Virginia and Trevor, but they're not strangers), but at least he was willing to play with them.

At one point, Virginia and I switched babies just so I could have one to hold and she could have one to play with (since Trevor isn't so sure about the water -- though he did manage to blow bubbles in it!). While I miss our cuddly swimming days, I love having such an adventurous baby who isn't afraid, especially of water. I think we'll have to start going to the pool more often now. Though, possibly after we buy him a swimsuit with a built in life jacket.