The Gustafson Family: A new found love for the water

Joshua doesn't like the water. He hates is actually. For a time, getting him to even take a bath was a pain in the rear. There was a time when he liked being in the water, however. The first summer he was alive we took swim lessons together, we went to the lagoon with friends a bunch of times and he loved it. Here he is enjoying the pool in Maui in September 2006.

Then fall and winter came and I don't know if the lack of exposure to a pool caused him to turn into a pool hater or what happened but he did not want to have anything to do with a pool. Then there was the time when he was 19 months old and he fell into a pool. Whenever we had family get togethers where a pool was involved it would take him an hour just to put his feet in the water. When we were in Maui in May of 2008, he would kick, scream and fight with me just to put on a swim diaper.

We bought him a purple painted (dead) starfish from a swap meet in Maui early in our trip and used that to coax him in to the water. He would want it so badly so we would throw it into the baby pool and force him to go get it.

After a while he would relax a bit and have a good time. The last time we went in the pool on that trip, he was crying because he didn't want to get out. Go figure.

At the beginning of August of this year, our neighbors had their inflatable pool set up in their front yard. Joshua and another neighbor were outside playing and the neighbor jumped right in and said "Joshua! Come in and get your feet wet!" He went right in and started splashing around. He had a blast and got soaking wet! He went in that pool 3 more times that week. At the end of August, we took the boys to Legoland to celebrate Joshua pooping in the potty 10 times (it took 3 1/2 months - it was a huge milestone which called for a huge celebration). They have a water area with a huge play structure and at the top are huge (are you sensing a theme) buckets that fill up with water. When they are full, the weight turns them upside down which then creates a huge waterfall resulting in everyone in its path of getting soaked. I can't even tell you how many times Joshua and I got dumped on. Joshua did great and was running all over with me. This picture doesn't do it justice, but we got drenched!

A few weeks later, we were at a friends community pool and he willingly played on the steps with Jacob. He even let me walk around the pool while holding him. He was hesitant, but willing. One week later we were at my parents community pool and he was playing around on the steps again, letting me walk around with him in the pool and letting my Dad carry him around the pool as well. Fast forward to last Saturday when we were celebrating our nephews birthday....at a community pool. He got in the pool right away and let me carry him around in the water. Then we saw a kickboard. He LOVED holding on to it and kicking around the pool. I can't even tell you how many laps we did. I even let go when we were close to the steps so he could "kick, kick, kick " all by himself.

Then came jumping. Naturally he was timid and wanted to sit on the side and lean in to me, but eventually he was jumping with no problem. He even had a smile on his face and was laughing!