Ellie has always been very cautious in the water, nervous about going under, hanging onto the wall when she's in the big pool, etc. Yesterday I told her that she was going to start swimming and she was crying"No, No!". I put a life jacket on her and took her out in the 4 ft. water where she couldn't stand and then asked her to follow my instructions. She was crying, but I followed through anyway. I told her that she would be able to practice kicking and moving her arms in the water without the fear of going under because of the life jacket. I let go and her look of terror very quickly turned to a smile because she realized she could do it!!!! She was giggling and then doing it over and over agin, throwing a ball out into the water and swimming out to retrieve it. Now the next step will be trying to accomplish that without the life jacket, but for now at least, she feels so proud and happy that she can do it. Bethany took some photos for me.
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