Some pretty heavy storms blew through our area today. Tom emailed me to say that at one point he looked out the window and saw the small inflatable pool that's been on our deck all summer flying across the yard toward the field across the street.
He saved the pool and it's now in the garage, safe from heavy winds.
It might have to stay in the garage until the next garage sale, thought because yesterday, Olivia taught herself how to swim.
Now, that's a little misleading.
These swimming lessons she's been giving herself have gone in stages.
The week of the Fourth of July, she taught herself to hold her breath while going under water. She take a few deep breaths and then put her face in the water, coming up for air after just a couple of seconds.
The next week (last week) she was putting her entire head under water while holding on to either the side of the pool or the ladder. At that point, she was staying under a bit longer, up to ten seconds, just testing her own endurance.
This week? She's let go of the ladder/side of the pool and is now doing something that can only be called swimming.
She takes a few deep breaths (leading to a case of the burps because she's swallowing air), plunges beneath the surface, kicks her feet like a little frog, uses her hands and arms appropriately and breaks the surface with an enormous grin several feet from where she started.
Is this how it happens? Alyssa did pretty much the same when she was five-ish, so maybe it just is how this sort of thing happens.
Obviously, we still don't let her swim alone or even with just Alyssa. But knowing she knows to hold her breath and that she can float and propel herself forward is just so cool.
It's so much fun to watch the little fish as she swims around the pool, her independence is palpable. Her sense of freedom, that she's doing this, all by herself, is just heart-breaking in its preciousness.
My baby is growing up and I couldn't be prouder.
But that baby pool? I think she's over it. She doesn't want to be bothered by water that won't cover her when she lays down. As far as she's concerned, now that she can swim, what's the point of anything less than three feet of water?
A mom, a dad and two daughters. We're living ordinary lives with a twist of 5p- (Cri du Chat) for spice. But we're about so much more than our younger daughter's genetic diagnosis.
3 comments:
Such a double edged sword! You want them to grow up, but when they do... Why can't they be young forever?!? Pretty amazing that Olivia taught herself how to swim though! Is she, by chance, only missing 1 part of the 5th chromosome? V is missing the top 2.
Good for her! Although I must tell you our trampoline literally blew away! We found it a few blocks from our house and it was toast. I am glad you were able to save your pool :)
That is a crazy wind storm!!! I remember Brittany called me and told me they found their trampoline in a far neighbors tree ahahhaha! Could you imagine!!! It blew away in the middle of the night, thank goodness it wasn't damaging!
So glad your story had a happy ending ahahah!
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