Chatting with a friend the other day, I said aloud something that I often think: that Vivi is the most complicated person I’ve ever met. Today only proved my point. The kid dropped out of swim class this winter after some sort of traumatic incident, and has been a bit reticent to really enjoy the pool since the summer started.
Then, today happened. First, we played in the deep water (meaning: 4 feet) for a quite a while, but she swam (meaning: did an ungainly dog-paddle) increasingly long distances from the wall to me. Then, when she tired of that, we went over to watch Julia jump off the diving board. After seeing Julia splash in a few times, Vivi decided she would jump from the diving board, too – something she has never done, and a long way from her timid step-jumps off the deck into shallower water.
I was a little worried about this, wondering what would happen if she got to the end of the diving board and froze up, or – worse – if she jumped in and panicked. But you can’t easily talk Vivi out of a decision she’s made, so I got into the water near the diving board, and…
Ten jumps later, she kicked me out of the pool, and then did twenty or thirty more jumps “by herself,” loving every one of them.
So much for needing swim class to be confident in the water. Like I said: she’s complicated.