Little Swimmer

Last year once Olivia figured out that she floated in her life vest, she was as happy as can be to paddle around the pool and the lake. But this year she has been intimidated about going out in the lake. I guess I can understand--when we first started going out in the boat, the water was pretty chilly and it really wasn't hot enough to feel the need to cool off (although that didn't keep Ryan and Katy out of the water!). But the past few weeks the water has warmed up to the upper 70s and it has been pretty hot--hot enough for me to get in, and that's saying something. Livvy kept hanging out on the ladder, but wouldn't get all the way into the lake.

Today I took the boat out with Barbara and Erin and our 10 (!) kids. Livvy was trying to stay on the ladder, but the other kids kept getting on the boat and then jumping off. They needed to use the ladder to get on the boat. And she was whining that she couldn't stay on the ladder to stay cool.

So I took matters into my own hands. I took off my cover-up, put on a vest, picked her up and told her that it was time for her to get into the lake with me. She began to scream and kept grabbing onto the railing with her feet. Barbara helped me unhook her feet from the railing, I told her to take a breath and I jumped. We both went under for about 2 seconds and then re-emerged. The water was wonderful! She was crying at first that she was scared, but I just kept holding her nice and tight and she had a death grip on my vest. She calmed down after a few minutes and we paddled around together. And about 15 minutes after we jumped in together, she let go of my vest and off she went, happy as can be. She was so excited to be in the water again and I was so proud and relieved.

Now summer can officially begin.