Look out Michael Phelps...

Jackson took a huge turn in swimming this past week - he started swimming without his swimmies (mainly with Lee - I'm still loving the swimmies) and he is doing sooo good. Lee gets a ton of credit for this - he is so good with Jackson in the water and gives him so much confidence. He taught him how to hold his breath and put his head underwater, how to float on his back, how to blow bubbles and how to kick and move his arms. Oh, and they also have a ton of fun when they swim.

I also give a little credit to the fact that, while we were in Charleston, Jackson swam with my long-time friend Amy's four (yes, four) kids. Gracie is 9 months older than Jack and was just learning to swim without her swimmies. Gracie and Jack loved playing and swimming together and Jack picked up a few things from her.

This is a video I took of Jackson swimming last night. Lee follows real close behind - putting his hand under Jack's stomach every once in a while to keep him afloat. His swimming is nowhere near graceful or even pretty but he is still swimming!!! He reaaly does look just like a dog doing the doggy paddle. You can hear me in the background saying "You have your hands on him, right?" When they came back from swimming tonight Lee and Jackson were so excited to tell me that Jackson was jumping in swimmieless, sinking underwater, kicking up to the top and swimming over to the wall. He was so proud of himself - huge smile on his face. We know that he's not ready to go without the swimmies all the time, especially in a big group of kids but this is a huge step!! We are so proud of you, Jack!

Enjoy!!