Swim lessons

Well we opened the pool! Not that it is warm enough for MY butt to be sitting in that cold water anytime soon! But kids don't seem to notice the cold. They will jump in with a smile on their face while their lips turn the loveliest shade of blue and insisting they are NOT cold!

Ryan was the 1st daring person to take the plunge. Megan to follow. So Delaney shouted that she LOVED cold water too and ran to her room to grab that new swimsuit with the tags still on it. I insisted on the full swimsuit cause, well, it covers more and in my insane way, believes she just might stay warmer a few seconds longer than in a bikini!

As she is putting the swimsuit on and ripping off the tags, I start blowing up the little tube. She declares in a huff that she does NOT need a tube. She is going to swim like Ryan! Yeah. Just a reminder that she is 4 and the pool comes up to my midribs standing and I am 5ft 9in. So I tell her that if she wants to go in that pool she either wears her tube or the lifejacket. No way! She can swim she tells me! I tell her there is no other options. She runs around the room "swimming" and telling me she can do it..............And so the battle begins.

As she is insisting she can swim without some sort of floatation, all the horror memories from last summer flooded back. The climbing up the ladder to get in the pool on her own! And then getting a kitchen chair to get in when the gate was locked!!!! The following her 11 year old sister and friend in the lake up to her chin and me having a heart attack when she fell under the murky water and disappeared only to have her jump back up, wipe her face off and smile at me!! The time she decided she did not need the tube and took it off and went under in the pool!!!! My heart was beating 100mph and I broke out in a sweat at just the memories of it! How could I have forgotten! What was I thinking not to remember all that!? This child has NO fear! And last year I swore I would duck tape the life jacket to her for the rest of the summer just to give me peace of mind!

As she trudged outside with the tube in place, I ran for the phone and called the local YMCA for swim classes with about as much urgency as someone calling 911!!

The lady on the phone asks me what I expect from the class so that she knew where to place Delaney. Did I want her to swim with a parent? Did I want her to swim on her own? Holly Moley........YES! I told her that since she seemed to think she could just jump in the pool and do everything her 16 yr old brother did.....I wanted her to be able to do everything on her own so that should she get in a jam she would know what to do. They bumped her up to the Pike class. I asked the lady what happened if she advanced out of it.....I think the lady probably thought I was 'one of those moms' who thought their child was so advanced. But I see Delaney. I know what is coming. And they have no clue what a daredevil they will have on their hands in a few weeks time! She obviously already knows how to hold her breath which means she will be doing that ahead of the other kids who have never stuck their head under water. She had no fear, so letting go and going for it isnt' going to hold her back any! And I would not put it past her to be jumping in from the side, which is something she cannot do in my above ground pool! Oh yeah....she is going to take to this like a fish!

Mom on the other hand might need to take a drink or two to get through this one!