Swim Girl

This Girl has been eagerly anticipating the day that she would be able to do swim lessons. Having sat on the sidelines all summer long watching Big Sis splashing around brought frequent requests of, "Momma, I wanna do swim lessons." To which I always replied that she had to be three first and use the potty. First requirement, check. Second requirement, well...we're still working on that one. Lessons started on Monday and while we were standing by the pool waiting to find out who her instructor would be she said, "I want a Momma." "What?!" I asked. She repeated, "I want a Momma, not a Daddy." As I glanced at the instructors clustered together at one end of the pool it suddenly occurred to me what Little Sister was talking about - she wanted a female instructor as opposed to a male. Luckily for her, she got the lone female instructor. Once it was determined that she got a "Momma" (who happened to be a teenage girl) she eagerly walked to the edge of the pool and plunked herself down on the deck. I walked to the other side of the pool to join J and Baby Miss. For the first ten minutes, Little Sister was the only kiddo in the class and from where we sat we could see the instructor talking to her followed by Little Sister shaking her head. Each head shake was accompanied by a slight body shift until Little Sister's feet were up on the pool deck and her side was facing the instructor. I had to talk J down from going over to talk to her, I reasoned that the instructor knew what she was doing and that I was sure that Little Sister wasn't the first kid she had that didn't want to get in the water. But, I could only hold him off for so long before he handed Baby Miss to me and started off by the time he'd made it to the far corner of the pool, the instructor had Little Sis in the water, luring her in with a pink foam turtle-shaped floating device. That was all it took to get over her initial hesitation. Soon another little girl joined the class and it wasn't long before Little Sister was up to her mischievous ways, inching along the side trying to get to the turtle while the instructor had the other girl in the water. She always got caught before she made it to the turtle. And so the lesson continued with Little Sister excitedly inquiring when she got to go again after it was over.