Okay, first of all, can you guess what this picture is?


And don't worry if this picture seems a little freaky to you - it seems a little freaky to me and I was there, taking the pictures....


So, last Thursday was Gracie's final swimming lesson for the summer.  Her swimming skills and her confidence level have improved vastly in the four weeks that she's taken the lessons.  (If anyone's looking for swimming lessons in the Pensacola area, I highly recommend Heather at the Pensacola Athletic Center).  However, the show-stealer at the pool that morning was not Gracie; it was her baby sister.  It was very, very hot that morning (okay, it's hot every morning this time of year, but the humidity was up, too, so it was pretty uncomfortable sitting beside the pool baking in the sun).  I was mentally beating myself up that I hadn't brought the girls early and paid the nominal fee so that Gracie could swim before lessons and Abigail and I could swim during lessons, but that morning had not been a good one.  Let's just say that I spent twenty minutes looking for my wallet before we left.  I found it tucked into the cushions of the couch and when I pulled it out, Gracie said, "Oh yeah, that's where we put it!".  Uggghhh!  Anyway, Abigail was dressed in shorts, a shirt, and a diaper.  But the look of the cool water was just too much for her.  She wandered over to the edge of the pool and sat down.  I sat beside her and let her dip her toes.  That was not enough for her, nowhere near enough.  She kept inching out farther onto the ledge until the bottoms of her shorts were wet.  Then farther, farther, farther until the edge of her shirt was wet.  At this point, I gave up and took her diaper off of her and dunked her completely, holding her arms up so the rest of her body slipped into the water.  She came up giggling.  Then, she saw the bigger kids in Gracie's class swimming by kicking their legs and making big circles with their arms, and putting their faces in the water.  So, of course, that's what she had to do.  I supported her stomach with my hand and she put her face in the water and swam like a little fish.  There were several women there waiting to take a water arobics class.  "Wow!  She's swimming so well for such a little baby!"  "That's amazing!"  were all things I heard while my little tadpole repeatedly put her face under the water and then lifted it up to smile for her adoring audience.  At the very end of the lesson, Miss Heather let Gracie touch the bottom of the four foot pool and then swim to me and then swim back to her.  Of course, Abigail wanted to do this, too.  I held her off until the very end and then asked Miss Heather if she'd mind taking Abigail out to touch the bottom.  She graciously agreed and my baby went with her without a backwards glance.  Heather held Abigail's hands and let her go all the way to the bottom.  She came up with a huge grin on her face.  Then, Heather headed to me and said to Abigail, "Okay, sweetie, we're going to let you swim to Mama."  And, about three feet away from me, she let go of Abail and my baby sank into the water - my heart stopped competely for a second, but then, Abigail started moving her arms and her legs and up she came, laughing with pure joy!  Needless to say, Abigail will be enrolled in swimming lessons very, very, very soon!   The problem is that now, she thinks that she can swim, any time and any place, and here's the kicker, without any assistance. 

Of course, I didn't have my camera with me at the swimming lesson (Hey!  I was lucky to get out of the house with my wallet and keys )  But, here she is demonstrating her newly aquired skills in our little pool in the backyard.

  No, Daddy!  Don't help me!




I swear, she could stay like this for minutes.  I can only last about 10 seconds, though, before I pull her up



She uses her legs to get herself under and then lifts them up so they float a little.  It's the funniest thing!




Here she is blowing bubbles. 



Now, about that picture at the top of the post.  Well, here's the story:  We were at the lake yesterday and Abigail and I were pretty close to the shore where the water is fairly shallow.  I think she figured out that if she was on her stomach and put her face in, she ended up with sand in her mouth.  Since she can't be around any water without putting her face in, she came of with the ingenious solution of laying on her back and kicking her legs up in the air so that the back of her head would touch the bottom and the water would be over her face.  Here's what I mean:


Step 1:  Lay back as far as you can




Step 2:  Kick your legs up high in the air (close your eyes at this step)


Step 3:  Bend your legs back as far as possible - the weight of them will push your face under the water (Make sure to hold your breath at this point)


Stay in the position for a few seconds, causing your mother to nearly drop her camera and come scoop you up  and finally,

Step 4:  Come up, shake your head, then smile



Repeat steps 1 through 4 again and again and again and again and again....

So, the original picture was just one I took of Step 3 at a different angle.  If you guessed that it was some strange form of sealife that we discovered at the lake, well, I guess you're at least partially right