Julia...A Fish Tale

Julia, Julia, Julia…What can I say? She fears almost nothing…especially when it comes to water. Sometimes, I used to find myself slightly irritated with Alex when he would be overly cautious about something that I didn’t think he needed to be, but now I find myself having a genuine respect for his cautious nature. Why? Simply because Julia seems bound and determined to take YEARS off of my life with her ‘no holds barred’ attitude. She has no problem walking around in neck deep water while bouncing on her toes with her hands waving in the air. Giggles spurt out of her lips between the small pool waves as she bounces through the madness. Yes, she goes down the big girl slide…not once, not twice, but over and over again. Once, the other day, she didn’t even wait for me to get back to my post at the bottom of the slide after escorting her to the steps to head to the slide. She landed in the water with her feet hitting the bottom. Although a bit shocked, Julia stayed upright…*sigh,* which just seemed her give her all the more confidence. “Wow, I can do this on my own!” seemed to race through her mind. A wave of defeat hit me…I thought “I’m never going to keep up with her now.” The good news…Pool season is almost over. Our last ‘Mommy, Alex, and Julia’ trip to the pool was just today. Yes, we’ll go again…but only for Toddler Time with the gates of the BIG POOL sadly locked until 4:00 (much to Julia’s dismay) or with Daddy on the weekend. Hopefully, this Fall/Winter/Spring will bring more inches to Julia’s height, so I don’t feel so dreadfully exhausted at the end of next summer’s pool season. The good news in all of this is that Julia is a little fish…I wouldn’t have it any other way. She loves the water, she feels more alive in the water, and I think she feels truly free in the water…yes, I love seeing the ‘fun’ in her eyes when she is in the water!