Constance officially can swim. Our hours of fun at the pool with cousins and siblings over the past two weeks have had wonderful effects on her. This week in particular, as a "cooling off" measure, we've hung out at the local pool each evening for almost two hours, and the kiddie pool is great. It's laps up to the edge on one side like when you enter the water at the beach, and gradually deepens to a true 4-5 feet "pool" at the other end. There are sprinkler-type contraptions (the mushroom is my favorite) and it's big and easy to sit in and crawl around in etc. No swimming paraphernalia (e.g. floaties) or toys (noodles, inflatable rings...) are allowed but the gradual nature of the pool makes up for it.
Constance has lots of fears, and encouraging her to put her face in the water has been a challenge. She also fought, as recently as two days ago, trying to float even with my support. So it surprised me to no end when yesterday, soon after we arrived at the pool, she began dunking, first her whole head, then her whole body into the water, over and over again. She then started trying to swim to me (in a foot and a half of water?!) and experimenting with floating on her own and even some submerged efforts with eyes open (but that stung...). Needless to say, we were very excited. Today she surprised me again - swimming right off the bat when we arrived for several yards at a time, floating easily on her front, using her arms and legs to manoeuver, and mostly with her head in the water, not above. Wow. She was even practicing floating on her back. It's official - she can swim!
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