Water Wings

In the past, Lilly has downright refused to wear any sort of flotation device--lifejacket, tube, puddlejumper, water wings--you name it we've tried it. The only thing I actually purchased were these cheap water wings that I figured she, or some other child of ours, would someday be willing to wear. I figured we'd work on it in Hawaii, but after the first attempt resulted in tears, I let it go. . . which is why I was shocked and ecstatic when she asked to wear them today!

 I think she saw all the other kids wearing them and was suddenly intrigued. She caught on right away and had the biggest grin on her face when she realized she was swimming independently! Then I had to remind her to keep her mouth closed so she didn't drink too much water. She laughed and giggled and kicked around and looked like she'd been wearing them forever. I don't know which of us was more excited.

She got really daring toward the end and started saying "lay down!" and trying to float on her back! I think she thought she was pretty cool. Of course, when I got my phone to take a picture, she refused to do it. I believe her thoughts were something like, "I'm not a trained monkey, mom. I don't do tricks."

Swimming without mom's help for the first time:

Hooray!