Summer Holidays, Day 45/47

Day 45/47  And yet another gorgeous, hot day!  After a bit of a lazy start to the day, we decided to head to the swimming pool after Austin's sleep this afternoon.  As those of you who know Hayden will know, he has a true fear of swimming and swimming pools.  Even as a small toddler, we went through a stage where for months he screamed and struggled and we had such a hard time even getting him into a bath or shower.  There was no one particular incident, and we used to go swimming quite often when he was little, but then earthquakes happened, pools closed, and then we moved out of town, so with one thing after another and Hayden really not wanting to go swimming, it wasn't something we pushed ourselves to do.

But of course, water and swimming is part of growing up in New Zealand, and being able to swim is such an important skill.  So, one of the aims this summer was to try to the swimming pool more often, and get Hayden used to the water again.  He had been doing really well whilst we were on holidays, and his confidence had definitely grown, which was great.

It has been a couple of weeks since we've been swimming now though, so today it was off to Jellie Park, the first time we'd been there.  Unfortunately though, back into a 'normal' and unknown swimming pool environment and the confidence was completely gone again.  However, on the other hand, I think Austin might be our little water baby! 

Here is Hayden all goggled up, ready to go (and looking happy enough!) before we left home.