This afternoon, we were invited to the Aker’s house (Aunt Missy’s Mom & Dad’s house) to go swimming.  John wanted to go swimming as soon as we got there, but he waited until Uncle T could watch him.  Once Uncle T was ready, John ;jumped right into the pool to show Uncle T all his new swimming moves.  And that’s when it began.  That’s all John did for the rest of the day.  He jumped into the pool, swam to the side, climbed out and jumped back in.  I gave him one rule, to watch out for Gillian and Grandma Aker.  He was very careful to not jump on top of anyone, but no one was safe from his splashes. 

Uncle T asked “How about you jump off the diving board?”  John said “No Way!  I’m not jumping off the diving board!”  But he continued to jump off the side of the pool.  Uncle T convinced him to move along the side of the pool closer and closer to the deep end.  Uncle T asked him again “How about you jump off the diving board?”  John again said “No Way!  I’m not doing it!”  But Daddy talked to him.  I’m not sure what was said but before we realized it, John was standing on the diving board.

And he loved it.  He loved it so much, he did it again. 

Since he wasn’t afraid of the diving board anymore, Uncle T asked “Why don’t you go down the slide?”  John said “Well it’s not wet.”  Uncle T said “I’ll get it wet.  Don’t worry about that.  Are you going to go down the slide?”  John surprised all of us and went over to the slide.  I honestly thought that he would chicken out when he climbed the ladder, but he didn’t. 

He only went down the slide once, but he must have jumped off the diving board a dozen or more times.  Gillian swam the entire time.  Well, I take that back.  She would get out of the pool occasionally make me take off her lifejacket so that she could grab a quick snack and then want to jump back in.  We tried to get her to jump off the side, but that didn’t work.  Maybe next time.