Disney World, Part II -- Water Fun

Keira wasn't the only one who enjoyed playing in the water at the hotel, Eli loved it too. He's not fond of the squirty fountains, like his sister, but he did have a ball swimming in the pools. After thinking about putting him in swimming lessons this summer, we decided to keep him with us and have Scott teach him instead. He's generally not fond of the water, and we didn't want to antagonize his fears by turning him over to a stranger. So, Scott started his swimming lessons at Disney. The first lesson (that may last most of the summer) is have fun in the water and relax. It worked.

Pop Century has life jackets that the kids can borrow through their stay. While Eli was a little hesitant at first, eventually he realized all the freedom he could have with one on. He started by standing on the steps and jumping into Scott or my arms, but within a few hours, he realized he could get around the pool by himself. We stayed close in case he needed us, but he was proud and by the second day, didn't even want us to touch him. It was awesome.


His confidence in the water even followed us to Typhoon Lagoon. He rode his first water tube water slide and fell in love. I think he rode it about twenty times. It was great. He was happy and confident even while riding down the little rapids (he called them a waterfall), spinning around backwards and occassionally getting a little splashed in the face. Huge progress!



I wasn't able to get any pictures of Keira playing in the water, but I did snap a few funny pictures of her playing with one of our beach towels. For several months now, she's tried to put on her own clothes. If you hand her a sock she will methodically, and patiently try to put it on her feet. With any piece of cloth (or even Kleenex!) she'll try to put it on her feet, legs and occassionally on her head. I think the interest in getting dressed must be a girl thing as Eli (at 4) only now reluctantly dresses himself. Another funny thing she does with random objects, and sometimes her hand, is she talks into them loudly in a monotone like she's talking on the phone. She says, "bye-bye, ahhhh ahhh ahhh, bye-bye". So while I was snapping these photos, first she tried to wear the towel, then once over her head she tried to talk into it.