She Did It!!

For as long as Katie has been living, she has HATED (strong word, but accurate) water on her face. Not once has she enjoyed it in the bath. And quite frankly she has been terrified of putting her face into the water at the pool. Her first 2 years, I figured don't push it. When she turned 3, I thought swimming lessons might help (they didn't).

This year we just focused on baby steps. Our baby steps included just Matt and I working with her....first, just blowing bubbles with her mouth in the water (no nose or eyes). Then we progressed to goggles that covered the eyes and nose. And finally, this past week --- she has gone fully submerged under the water with regular goggles. Wohoo --- Major milestone for us!!

We decided to spend today, the last official day of summer (boo-hoo), at Splash Valley Water Park. The park has a big kids, medium size kids, and little kids section --- complete with two big water slides for the adults/big kids. Katie loves the lazy river and the kiddie section. Matt loves the water slides. And this preggo lady enjoys the cool water. We actually got a semi-decent video of Katie swimming in the kiddie section. I have hope for her yet. She does love the water, if we can just help her overcome her fears.

I'm sad that summer is ending, because I feel like Katie will regress when she isn't in the pool as much. Since we are members at the YMCA, I'm considering some fall swim lessons. However, Katie is a little resistant to try her skills with a teacher instead of mommy and daddy who she trusts a bit more. We'll see ---- I've got another week to decide.