Aliya--the New Underwater Swimmer!

Tonight Aliya swam under the water! She learned by herself--she didn't want any help. Pretty soon she was swimming all over the pool with her head under the water! She had on her Dora goggles, and she would also plug her nose. Niah and I also had our goggles on, and we would wave to her. She thought this was great.

After about an hour of that, she wanted to swim without her floaties. I told her to try taking one off first and seeing how she did. She swam great with just one floatie. I told her that she could try it now without any floaties, BUT she would have to stay by me. She actually did pretty good! She would swim and doggy paddle for a few seconds before she would need help. This meant that she could swim from the ledge out a few feet before I would catch her. She thought that was great, but after about 15 minutes, she wanted to put her floaties back on.

I am sure that by the end of this summer (only a month or two left!), she will be swimming pretty good by herself. We have been swimming every evening because it isn't that crowded, and it is so beautiful with the lights on in the swimming pool. I will try to take some pictures, but I am not sure they will turn out--the pictures may be too dark. I won't know, though, until I try.

--Heidi