Water Baby

One thing we learned about our little Princess early on was how much she loved the water. 

Even her earliest baths were not that scary for her. I’m sure some doctor somewhere has figured out that a bath reminds babies of the womb – all warm and wet.
But other than the tub routine, Finley never got to experience a big bunch of water until we went to Mexico in November. After a dabble of dunks in the hotel pool, we strapped her into her personal water craft (PWC) – a small, inflatable tube – and guided her down the resort’s lazy river. She was in mermaid heaven.
So, when we got back from Mexico, we would take a day on the occasional weekend and go up the hill from our place to the local high school pool. As time went by, it was inevitable that she would get tired of the PWC and want to experience a little more freedom. Well, freedom in the form of being held by Momma or Poppa.

That need to be free has since spilled over into the tub. We used to have this little seat that attached to the side of the tub and basically forced her to stay sitting up while her bottom half was under water. And as she’s grown, the seat and her patience got smaller.
We’ve since moved on to a very secure tub traction mat and fill the tub just a little bit. This has not only increased her desire to splash a heck of a lot more, but we have to keep her from wanting to stand up all the time. She really doesn’t slip – we’re more afraid of a quick loss of balance.

So, this weekend, as we headed up to visit with Nana (Heather’s mom), we brought up a new part of Finley’s world… her very first kiddy pool! We don’t have the kind of space (we actually don’t have a yard) to keep one, so we borrowed Nana’s front grass for a few hours and watched our little otter pop go to town.
Of course, splashing was the number one on the list of things to do. And not just sitting in the pool and splashing with her hands. No, she was into the whole full-body splash… Laying on her tummy and flailing like a beached whale.
The other thing she liked was being able to climb in and out of the pool at will. The way in was always punctuated with a splash, of course. She found her biggest splash was whenever she sat down as hard as she could. This was followed by looking around at us for approval.
Needless to say, Finley is pretty much peaked out on happiness when her fingers and toes start to resemble prunes. Does this mean we’ll be watching the swimming competitions at the Olympics with a little more interest? Will I be building a 10m platform for her to dive? Probably not. Besides, a 3m springboard would be a little easier to make.

But first things, first. We need to get her swimming lessons as soon as possible… Especially while she’s really enjoying being in the water. Her diving career wouldn’t last too long if she just knifed into the water and didn’t come up! So, that’s the next thing on our list. I want to make sure she’s not afraid of water and – more importantly – a bit respectful of water and the danger that is around, even when you’re having fun.

For now, her pool may not be quite Olympic size, but I’ll bet you all the tea in China (or smog in China, for that matter) that she’s having just as much, if not more fun than all the Michael Phelpses and Leslie Joneses going for the gold. Besides, Finley would rather have a binky around her neck than a silly medal.