Em Learns to Swim!

Swim lessons don't start until Monday and every time we have been at the pool I have made Emily wear her life jacket while she swims in the "big" pool mainly for my comfort. She has always been braver than her ability when it comes to the water. A few days ago she asked me if she could take off the life jacket and stay on the stairs and I agreed. As I was chatting with a friend I watched her out of the corner of my eye take off and jump into 4 feet of water onto a kick board. When I got up to make sure she didn't go under and asked her what she was doing {because she can't swim} she just smiled a huge smile at me. She really is on the verge of swimming and I know once she starts the lessons this year she is really going to take off but for now the yellow vest was so I knew she was safe. The other night we were the only people at the pool and she asked again to take off the vest and sit on the stairs and the next thing I knew she was diving to the bottom to get toys. I had her move down a ways holding on to the wall and asked her if she thought she could swim back to the stairs. With a huge smile she said "YES" and off she went! There was no stopping her as she worked on mastering the task - over and over again. By the time we went home she was quite proud of herself, however, I sure am going to miss that little yellow vest and the comfort it brought me. I will defiantly need to keep a much closer eye on her now that Em's a swimmer.