and then they closed the pool ...

Earlier this week, (yes I have been too tired to post) the girls and I joined two of my running mates and their children at the pool they belong to. The objective of the trip was for me to get some swim practice in before Sunday's triathlon, while my friends kept an eye on the girls. Well, that didn't really happen. I just wasn't up to lap swimming, and really, was 20 minutes of swimming going to help me all that much during the tri? Probably not. Seriously, at this point I will just be happy to finish. No records. Just finish. Without falling asleep.

So instead, the afternoon at the pool became a great opportunity for the girls to tackle their swim demons. OK, well Doodle doesn't really have swim demons. In fact, she is so comfortable in the water that she really doesn't see the danger in it at all. Good, because she is willing to jump right in. Bad, because she doesn't so much know how to swim. So I have to watch her like a hawk. And since walking in water (even as little as a foot and a half) can be very difficult for someone who just figured out how to walk on dry land, I had to grab my submerged child at least 20 times. Not so much fun. Really, it was more nerve-wracking than anything else.

But back to these swim demons. If you read my last post about swimming, then you know that Dizzle is not a fan of water. Basically, she freaks out and holds on to someone, anyone for dear life. And the same was true in the kiddie pool. Dizzle proceeded to get in and immediately freeze, saying something to the effect of, "I don't want to get in." Of course!

But that's when the turn around happened. E and I somehow managed to show her that she could sit down or kneel and her head would still be above the water. And she finally calmed down. Before long, she was running back and forth, splashing, laying on her back, "swimming like a mermaid" (as she calls it). It was quite impressive. Especially for a girl who won't let us rinse her hair in the bathtub. Then suddenly I looked at her and don't you know it, she was putting her face into the water. Rock on Dizzle!! But of course, with all this progress something had to go wrong. And it did.

After sticking her face in one last time, Dizzle swallowed some water, proceeded to choke, cough it back up and then THROW UP. That's right. The fruit snack she just finished was now floating in the pool. Can you guess what happened next? Yup. They closed the pool. Water - 1, Dizzle - 0.