SWIMMING!!!

Katie. Can. Swim. Face in the water, kicking legs, pulling arms, swimming. It is AWESOME.

We started the summer with the sweetest swim teacher in the world. Sweet friends, bubble blowing, and toys and treats after every class made Katie so very happy. Spent a week with her and Anna's cohorts and had a blast. Katie was much more comfortable and looked forward to swimming every day.

The next week, Katie joined a class with four boys, and a, shall we say, more "direct" teacher. I asked a boy in Katie's class if he knew my little girl and he said, "Oh yeah, she cries when she swims." Oh, the memories. I told her about throwing up in the pool at American University, but it didn't seem to help.

But TODAY. June 10th, 2010, she got it. When I arrived at the lesson (Mom's are required to leave during the yelly parts) she jumped in off the side, and swam across the pool to the teacher. UNBELIEVABLE. She had the time of her life. We came home and swam, and jumped and dove for toys the rest of the evening.

Her courage is contagious. I know I went all of last summer without once putting my face in the water. But how can I resist the wondrous request, "Mama, let's go underwater with goggles and look at each other!"

Two Perspectives

The Pool Rope - Two Perspectives.

Katie: "We need to put the rope up, Mommy, so that we can tell where the deep end starts because I can stand in the shallow end but not in the deep end and if we put the rope up then we can see."

Anna: "I swim rope!" Swims directly to rope, lifts it over her head, and goes into the deep end.

My favorite part is that Anna had never swam all the way into the deep end - until there was a barrier to cross.

Documentation

I decided that I would work very hard this summer to ensure that every day, the girls see someone other than me and Dad. It could be a loooong one if we don't make an effort to get out and about. So, Monday we played with Lu Lu and GrandDaddy, Tuesday we played with Bentley and Lani and Ella. Today, we had a WONDERFUL day. We played at Rob's house, ate lunch at Chick-fil-A with Ivy and Will, swam all afternoon with Sarah and watched a Barbie movie with Lani and Ella. Awesome day.... Then Ronnie gets home and says "Girls, what did you do today?"

"Noooothing."

Tomorrow I am locking them in their room all day.