More Pool Talk with the Loo Loo's

The summer is chugging along.  Overall things are going well.  Mr. Man is struggling a bit.  He is plucking Mom's last nerve for sure.

Miss Fabulous had been doing well through out the weekend, even with the extra day off.  Yesterday after camp and while the Behavior Therapist was here she did not want to get out of the pool for dinner.  She pitched a royal fit complete with banging on the sliding glass door and yelling and screaming.  My neighbors obviously just do not care, which works well for me.  This child is screaming "Mommy let me in" through an unlocked door which she had already been instructed to "come on inside when your ready". 

We did such a good job of going about our business that she OPENED the door to yell LET ME IN!  It was hard not to chuckle.  She had her towel and the patio was shady and it wasn't cold either so she was okay to take her time to come in.  If we had insisted that she come in she would have had a major rage in the house, where she was she was being perfectly safe and working it out of her system so we went with that.

She opened the door and said, "I am ready to come in now."  So we told her come on in and go get dressed for dinner.  She put her PJ's on and got into bed.  I went and checked on her and asked if she was tired and she said no that she just felt better being there.  Good choice!

She ate a double dinner and then went right out to sleep.

I think what might be behind the upset is the fact that she is not a good swimmer.  Her fear over takes her and she doesn't trust herself, even in the water she can stand in the feeling of her feet not being under her when she tries to swim frightens her and she stops trying.  It is okay with us.  We tell her to keep trying and good job and that she will get there but she is unhappy with herself and she is in a place where she realizes there is no one at fault other than herself, if one wanted to put it that way.  That in itself is huge.

Her little friends in camp are moving on to the deeper water because they are taking the test and passing it.  She is too afraid to try to take the test.  She is upset with herself about that and in addition her 4 year old brother who is the size of a 2 year old is swimming all on his own like a fish and everyone is really excited about it. 

It is one of those things that I think most kids go through.  Big Sis was 9 before she learned to ride a bike with no training wheels, and yes it looked ridiculous for this big ole' kid to be cocked over to one side because she had longgggggggggg out grown the training wheels.  Whatever eventually she wrestled with herself and learned to ride.  The pride and the since of accomplishment is huge when a person overcomes that kind of fear.  But no one can do it for that person and that's where Miss Fabulous is at.

Ah summertime...