Going off the deep end - Or in it!?

Dani and her friend show off their Puddle Jumpers.

My girls are 17 months apart in age. They're hard to keep track of in public and especially at the swimming pool. Midway through the summer I picked up a Stearns Puddle Jumper. So many of the kids had them at the pool and I'd never seen one before.

I found them online, but didn't want to pay $20 each for them. Then I found them at Harris Teeter on sale for $12.50. (In retrospect, I would pay $50 for this life jacket.) I got two and headed straight to the pool. D is a little small for it, but I slipped it on her anyway.

Jordan is a big pool kid. She loves to be there, but she couldn't swim and she was too big for her floaties so they were useless. You should've seen her her first day with the Puddle Jumper. She kicked and paddled all the way across the pool into the deep end. Two visits to the pool later (less than a week) she took it off and went under water - face and all! I told her to kick her legs. She did, and she started to swim. I don't know if it was the Puddle Jumper or the timing, but coincidently Jordan can swim now.

Dani, too, is far more independant with the Puddle Jumper. She kicks and bobs and jumps around in the water and prefers that I don't hold her. I highly recommend this product. On a side note, a friend said she bought a knockoff version of the Puddle Jumper. It wasn't as good, she said, and she ended up buying the Stearns version.

HIGHLIGHTS: Puts your child in a safe vertical or floating horizontal position very easily. My brother teaches little ones how to swim and said getting kids horizontal in the pool is important in teaching children to swim and more urgently get them comfortable in the water.  I don't have to be glued to my kids sides at the pool because they really work!

LOW LIGHTS: It's for kids 30-60 lbs. Dani is about 28 lbs so it's a bit big for her.  

COST: I paid $12.50 on sale (they're probably going on sale now as the end of the pool season is approaching) - saw them today on Amazon.com for as low as $15.