Note for Falby family: Clementine's swimming pics are now in a flickr set so you can view them as a slideshow.
So we have a very large bath.
As far as I can tell, the thing must hold about one-and-a-half cubic meters (1.5 tonnes of water). It's not so much huge as deep, like a plunge pool (it was marketed as a 'Japanese' bath). Clemmie and I have been taking baths in there pretty much since she was born. A big part of bath play used to involve me going "1,2,3" and then plunging her underwater, and this has continued at the swimming pool where from very early on I let go of her and let her sink. An instructor at the pool in Leighton explained that it was OK to chuck your child in the water as long as you looked comfortable, and that through any gasping and wheezing, you always maintained a beaming smile (as in: gosh, wasn't that fun) which apparently communicates to your baby that all is well.
So fast-forward eight months. I took a gig in Salisbury and ended up commuting five hours a day so essentially never saw Clem on week-days. Our regular pool sessions faded off and she's now much to big to dunk.
Nicki has taken our little Ariel to proper swimming lessons and what a star! Clemmie can effectively swim. I say effectively because there's no actual coordinated kick-and-stroke going on, but she's diving off the side of the pool, diving to the bottom to pick up rings and pushing off from he side of the pool and gliding face-down like a rocket.
I am actually really, really, impressed and am officially a very proud father:-)
