Red Letter Day!

I love having a free pool one block from our house.  It means that with no more planning than "hey, girls, get your bathing suits on" we can take a nice dip on a nice day.  Our pool isn't fancy, in fact it could use some work, but hey, a pool is a pool, right?

So normally we go straight for the baby pool when we get there (it is a pretty good baby pool - sloped entrance, good size, depth from a few inches up to one and a half feet), put our bags down, and hop in.  Then, after awhile, Fletcher decides she wants to jump in the big pool.  Gryphon sometimes comes with us, or, if she's found a friend in the little pool, stays there while Fletcher jumps into the big pool.  Gryphon is not a fan of jumping in the pool, and has not been a fan of going under water.  Indeed, she has been a bit skittish in the water.  She would grab on to the closest adult, all arms and legs, squeezing like a boa constrictor.  This year, she's been taking more chances, has put her face in, and generally has been a bit more confident.  But as a rule, she has preferred to stay in the baby pool.

A note on Fletcher jumping:  SHE HAS NO FEAR. None.  Period.  At all.  She jumps in, I let her go under, and pull her up only after she kicks her feet.  In reality, she usually comes almost all the way up on her own.  She also likes to try to get away from me.  Yes, she tries to push me away while in four or five feet of water.  And yes, she is only two and a half.  So sometimes I let her get away, just to remind her that she probably should indeed have just a little tiny bit of fear, to be on the safe side.  

But I digress. . . 

Today, Gryphon came to the big pool.  She held onto the side while Fletcher jumped in.  And then, at a point when I wasn't totally paying attention, said something along the lines of "Mama, I'm going to really try it today."  And before I had a chance to comprehend. . . 

SHE LET GO OF THE WALL AND SWAM!!! 

Out she went, about five feet or so, and turned around and swam back to me!  I was so excited!  I was giggly!  I said to the two young men sitting on the side of the pool "Hey! Did you see that? She swam!  That was her first time!"  They looked at me with that look of slight disdain that only a teenager can muster, with a little bit of humor thrown in for good measure.  I then told every lifeguard, and the pool manager too!  I'm still a little bit giddy!

Needless to say, Fletcher then wanted to go back to the baby pool and Gryphon wouldn't get out of the big pool.  It looks like our pool habits will be changing. 

After another half hour of swimming (which included of course baby sister trying even harder to get away from me and swim on her own, because FIFFIN did it - I wouldn't put it past Fletcher to be swimming on her own by the end of summer), we came home and, as is our usual practice, sat on the front stoop and ate popsicles.  

Ah, summer.

Oh, and as a slightly sad, for no good reason, postscript:  When we left the pool, Fletcher said "Mama, carry me."  Now this shouldn't seem like such a big deal, but it was to me.  Up until then, she had always said "carry you" as in my question "do you want me to carry you?"  So she's starting to figure out pronouns, it seems.  And growing up.