Monday, July 8, 2013

Dive, Dip, Determination

Josie's persistence and intense determination + a summer pool membership = She can swim! She can swim!








And of course a story to accompany this feat.

Josie started to swim one day last week when it became obvious to her that, to keep up with the other kids her age (pool membership veterans), she had to just go for it. All it took was a pair of goggles that fit & this happened almost instantly.  Later this day, she actually ended up having an asthma attack because her little lungs were working so hard over the hour or so that she pushed herself. (She was fine after we got home to a breathing treatment & we now travel with an inhaler.)

The next day we returned to the pool and she decided on her own that she wanted to tackle swimming from one side of the pool to the other. I threw on my goggles and told her I'd swim right beside her.  First we predicted how many times she thought she'd need to stand up along the way on her first try. Her guess was five. She made it standing up three times. I was *very* proud of her! Then our sweet sweet girl looks back where she came from and says, "I think I can do it in ONE."  I was a little nervous after the asthma incident, but she was determined. Then, she put her face in and there she went. And would you believe it? She decided somewhere between pushing off and getting there that she wasn't going to stand up but that she could make it the whole way! Just 2 or 3 strokes from the wall I could see the look of determination in her eyes and I could tell that what she was doing was actually mentally and physically hard for her. But she took a big gasp, stuck her face back in, and kicked her little heart out those last couple strokes! Then she sprung out of the water and gave me the biggest, tightest hug I can remember in recent memory - quickly followed by "Let me show Daddy & Bea!"

Josie's had this characteristic since she was a teeny tiny little thing.  Remember this one from the archives? She had just turned 2.




It's a trait that I know she'll carry with her for the rest of her life. What a mighty girl!