Leap of Faith

The heat in the South this summer has been stifling. Fortunately, we have access to a swimming pool and have taken advantage of it the entire summer. We swim every weekend, and Little Clover swims on Wednesdays with his summer camp. He's mastered swimming under the water and has improved swimming in the deep end. Each time we go swimming, he's gotten a bit braver and has tried something new. We watched him tentatively stretch his comfort, and this weekend, he took a huge leap...off the diving board.

He had been looking at the board tentatively all summer long. Each time we went swimming, he would ask about it, and we would ask if he wanted to try it. We suggested trying out jumping into the deep and he was too nervous to even do that. So, we didn't push it, and he kept asking and talking about it. Then, this weekend, I asked Little Clover if he would like to jump into the deep water while holding my hand. He thought this was a great idea. We kept jumping in, going deeper and deeper, laughing the entire time. I asked if he wanted to try the board and told him I'd hold his hand.

We walked onto the board, I counted to three, and we jumped! The smile on his face while we were underwater was beautiful! He loved it and spent the rest of the weekend jumping off the board, swimming to the side, getting out, jumping off the board, and repearting the entire process over and over again. Watching under the water, as his little body beamed was awesome.