Pool time

So yesterday we had a pretty busy day. We went to the pool with friends for the afternoon. She loves the idea of the pool, but she is more like a 3 year old wanting me to hold onto her the whole time. In a lifejacket her legs float to the surface causing her to roll over unvoluntarily. The first hour was a battle, she even went off on Gary and scratched him. She got a scolding and a time out, which she was not happy about and continued to pitch a fit. At once point she looked at me threatening to inflict the same on me as she had on Gary, to which I responded, "girl you go right on ahead, but Mama will do it right back" I'm not sure she understand my words, but she certainly understood my tone and she straightened up. By the time we left she was having Gary through her in the air and willingly going under the water. We made a huge deal of it, and she was screaming with joy, "I good job, I good job!"

About an hour before we left I noticed a woman walking stiffly over to the pool with a little help from her daughter. I turned to Gary and said, "Look I think she has what Anastasia has." So Anastasia and I made our way over and I asked the woman, sure enough!! And the daughter who was helping her into the pool was adopted, just several weeks ago, they had been her foster parents for 5 years, how awesome is that.
I got to talk to the woman for a little while about her CP, how it has effected her, etc... I felt a little foolish but I asked if she could swim, she said yes, although she uses her upper body more to do so than other people. She was very kind and gave me her phone number.

So I would say our trip to the pool was an overall success. I will be doing it many times without Gary's help over the summer on weekdays, so it was a good trial run. My goal is for her to be able to play independantly in a swimvest. I think the scratching thing was due to many things, her lack of language, reverting to 2 year old behavior and testing her new parents.