Learning to Swim

Hailey has always been a cautious girl. I have never really pushed her to do anything because when she makes up her mind to do something she does it. She was that way with potty training. She is a goal setter, when she decides she is ready to try something new she will pick a day of the week and then keep asking me when the day comes and then do whatever goal she has set for herself. Well we have been going to the pool a lot this summer and she swims with her floaties. Usually towards the end she will take them off and hang on to the wall or grab on to me. Today was the same, she took them off and then started treading water hanging on to the wall. Then she started to let go of the wall and then grab back onto it. Then she stared treading water going up and down the wall while letting go and grabbing back on. Then she started putting her head under and treading up and down the wall while letting go and then grabbing back on. Then she started to kick her legs and kind of float next to the wall while grabbing onto the wall and letting go. After that she started to kick and use her arms and when she ran out of breath she would grab the wall. This process took about 10 minutes and by the end she was swimming laps by the wall and only grabbing it when she needed some air. All the while I just walked up and down with her not saying anything except for an occasional "good job". It was amazing to watch the process unfold until she was ultimately swimming all by herself without any instruction. So today she learned how to swim! Of course she still has work to go before she is completely comfortable and swimming all around but it was neat to watch her learn how to swim.