Allie's first foray into "swimming"

Tonight, Jen had a pool party with the young women from church. The party was at an apartment pool of one of the leaders and it was first come first serve. So, Jen and the kids got to the pool at about 5:30pm to "reserve" space for the 15 or so girls that would be coming later in the evening.

When I showed up to the pool at 6:00pm I saw that Jack and Allie had adhered themselves to a group of two young couples who were lounging at the pool. Allie latched on to a girl named Nicole, although every time she was asked what the girls name was, Allie couldn't remember. Allie was wearing arm floaties to help keep her from sinking under the water. Allie and Nicole played around for quite some time, all along Allie wanting to swim out into the middle of the pool by herself.

I finally wrestled the kids away so that the young couples could continue their lounging uninhibited by our children. The kids and I went to another part of the pool and wanted me to pull them around by their arms so they could be "swimming." I did this for a while and eventually Allie remembered that her new friend, Nicole, had told her to kick her legs if she wanted to swim. So Allie started kicking her legs like she was "riding a bicycle" (her words). She started to trust that the arm floaties would help keep her buoyant and kept kicking her legs. By this time I had let go of her and was sitting on the pool steps while Allie and Jack hung on to the sides of the pool. Allie eventually pushed herself away from the side of the pool, all of the while still kicking her legs and the next thing I knew she was in the middle of the pool..."swimming."

Allie was quite excited and started to swim laps around the pool. Oddly enough, she complained that her arms were tired, but that her legs were not yet tired. A few minutes later I caught Allie jumping off the side of the pool and bobbing back to the surface of the water after temporarily going under. I thought she would take a big gulp of water or something, but she did not. I was a bit surprised at Allie jumping off the side of the pool, but I guess I should not have been. She can be quite the daredevil with her body.

Anyhow, I just wanted to pass on a short story of Allie and her new found swimming technique. The kids are slated to go swimming again tomorrow at a friend's house, so Allie can continue practicing her "swimming."