Greta Swims

Greta swims. She has a deep down need to swim and no force on earth will stop her. She's 3 years old. When we started swimming this summer, I pulled out the usual floaties and life jackets. I puffed and padded both girls and set them afloat like tiny michelin men bobbing around in the water. I have long been intimidated about going to the pool with twin preschoolers who are pre-swimmers. Greta dutifully wore her life jacket for one swim. Then she absolutely refused to put it on again. She would push me away and say she wanted to swim by herself. There were 2 times that she got in while I was looking away. And I turned around to see her flailing around in the water unable to come up for air.

After that, I keep her within arm's length at all times. I was so worried and fearful about her swimming. She clearly needed to learn a lot before becoming a strong, independent swimmer. I fought and struggled with her. She pushed me away. She wanted to jump in by herself. "Don't catch me," she would say. I finally realized I was letting my fears control me and not embracing her need to swim. Once I realized this, I was able to work with her on her swimming. She wiggles her body like a mermaid and propels herself even without using her arms. She goes under and twirls around and around. Now we play together in the water. I can hold her tight to my belly and do a backflip in the water. She loves that. She has tried repeatedly to swim down and grab something from the bottom of the pool like her brothers can do, but her body is too light. She will go under with her little bottom sticking up out of the water and swim and swim and go nowhere. So we go down together. I hold her and swim down as fast as I can to the bottom. She grabs the ring and we zoom back up. She also loves to jump in with her brothers. When the boys are jumping in, she is right there with them doing cannonballs and twisting around. She even tried a dive last time.

It's fun now that I have let go of my fears. I certainly stay very alert with Greta in my sight at all times. I have to be ready and willing to be with her in the water the whole time every time we go swimming. It's a celebration and a joy.