Pool

On the other hand, the boys LOVED the pool.  All of them.  Most days we spent an hour or two swimming in the pool.  They all made a lot of progress. 

C and N were happily jumping off the sides of the pool, and by the end of the week they could paddle themselves from one side of the pool to the other (with life jackets on).  L still didn't really get that...he would laugh nervously (it was hilarious) when we would let go of him (in his lifejacket, of course) but just didn't get the concept of kicking his feet to move.  He would jump off the side of the pool, but sometimes took some prompting (whereas C and N would just jump off, whether someone was there or not). 
Z LOVED his goggles, and wore them the whole time!  Now he will just put his face under and swim around...that is big.  We also got him some dive sticks, and he was willing to take off his life jacket and dive down for them.  He didn't quite get how to kick himself down to the bottom, but I would give his back a push underwater and that would get him down there.  By the end of the week he was also willing to take off his life jacket and could dog paddle across the pool.  Pretty impressed with him.  :)

Swimming

We decided to get a pool pass to our local rec center.  I was a bit wary at first (um, 4 kids, none of whom can swim, and 2 adults?).  Z took swim lessons for a week and got pretty comfortable in the water.  In fact, he ended up getting "private" lessons since not enough kids signed up.  He and his teacher Sam worked together one on one every day for a week!  It was great.  :) 

That week he and I went a few times by ourselves to the pool so I could keep working with him.  (Sidenote:  it was sooo fun to have one on one time with him!  I rarely get that, and we had a great time.)  He is now comfy enough to do cannonballs into the water.  He will willingly put his face in the water (sometimes), and loves to just kick around and "practice" swimming when he has a life jacket on.  He also loves the playground part of the pool, and goes down all the slides (even the big one, after a few weeks of talking about it).  He doesn't mind getting splashed.  In the playground area he can touch the ground everywhere, so we don't really have to worry about him.  That is nice.   

We got puddlejumpers for the little boys, and they have warmed up to them.  The first few times we went to the pool they weren't quite sure about it, but they have started to have more fun.  Now they will all jump off the side of the pool and land in the water and go under and be ok with that.  C and N love to go down the slides in the playground, but L is not really a fan of it.  Not sure why.  We'll see how they continue to do, but they're off to a good start. 

Since we got the membership we figured we would have to go 2 to 3 times a week to make it worth it, and we have.  We have been going after naptime when it isn't as crowded and the sun isn't as strong, and staying for an hour or so...enough to kill some time before dinner. 

And another area to explore...they have free childcare so that I/we can work out in the gym part of the rec center.  Trying to decide if the free childcare is incentive enough for me to work out...will keep you posted :)