Me and my girl, two peas in a pod!

When I was a kid my mom always had a hard time getting me out of our town pool. I loved that place. I loved the pool. I loved playing in the water. I loved playing sharks and minnows in the deep end. I have always been a water baby. It takes a lot for me to not want or need to go in the water if an opportunity presents itself. For instance, I refuse to get in a bathing suit and go in a pool if I'm with coworkers, but that's about as far as my limits go.

I always loved playing with my friends in the pool. I can remember playing with my friend in the pool for hours on end. We would come up with new games every time. One day we spent hours intertwining our legs together, going under water and pretending we were on a see saw bobbing up and down each catching a little more breathe each time it was our up portion of the see saw motion, flapping our arms to either push ourselves up or back down to the bottom of the pool while the other caught her breathe. It sounds stupid and silly but it was so much fun.

This summer my 4 year old daughter has made amazing strides in the pool. It began during our vacation in April when she began jumping in the water without us having to catch her. And then she figured out how to float on her back. She was so excited for her accomplishments (and we were excited for her) that she couldn't wait to show grandma. We always go to grandma's pool during the summer so when she thinks pool, she thinks grandma. We texted grandma from vacation with video of her jumping in the pool. She was excited, did I mention that?

When grandma's pool opened this season, it's been one thing after the next, stride after stride. I'm so proud of her. She goes under water completely. She does somersaults. She swims from one side of the pool to the other. She's worn flippers and a snorkel (needs a little more practice with the snorkel). She does cannon balls. And most recently she's ventured into the deep end and is jumping and DIVING in. Yes, diving.

She and I have had the best time these last few weeks playing in the water together. We do somersaults. We go under water and wave to each other. We jump in the water over and over again at the same time. She swims to me and then swims back. We've had the best time playing in the pool. Every time I stop to think about playing in the pool with her, I feel awesome. I feel like my whole life has led up to this, like my life was waiting for my daughter and I to play in the pool. Sure I had friends to play in the pool with, but my daughter is my daughter. My daughter doesn't like getting out of the pool. She doesn't mind her lips turning purple. She just loves playing in the pool and so do I. It's like we were made for each other, two peas in a pod. I have so much fun playing with her and I'm so lucky she loves the water as much as I do. Last weekend, my mom had to drag me and my daughter out of the pool by our ears. In typical fashion, my mom told me it was time to go, I stomped my feet and asked for 5 more minutes. :)