In her own time...

From day one, nearly two years ago, Lucy made it clear that you couldn't force anything on her. Sleeping through the night, ha! Sleeping in her crib, double ha! So a long time ago, I surrendered to her. She knows her own mind. She always has. Of course there are non-negotiables, like eating, sitting in a carseat etc. But, for the mostpart, she gets to make her decisions. Daddy has a harder time with letting her pave her own way, but he is coming around. Slowly.

So last weekend, we joined Aunt Jenny, Uncle Aaron and Cousin Gavin at their community pool for a nice afternoon. I knew going in that Lucy might not be into the whole pool scene. She is becoming fearful in her old age. She has become a shy toddler in place of the super outgoing infant we all knew. So she is looking absolutely adorable in her little tankini and is all suncreened up, ready to go. Then she sees the pool. Nope. Not.getting.in. Daddy thinks he can carry her in the pool and "she'll be fine". Nope, wrong again. So we take the ignore her approach. After about 25 minutes of looking at the pool (which is a baby pool, ranging from 1 inch of water to 2 feet) she decides it is o.k. Here she comes! Running in! Look of pure joy on her face. She joins us in the pool and happily plays in water up to her waist.

I suppose she showed us, again. Is it important that it took her 25 minutes to brave the water? Does it matter that she fell in and it took another 15 minutes for her to try again? Does it matter that she slipped and went under, causing tears and sneezes? Does it matter that she wouldn't allow me to hold her in the deeper water? No, it doesn't. All that truly matters is that she did it, all by herself, when she was ready. I pray that she holds on tight to those values. That she always has the self awareness and willpower to stick to her guns. To do what is right for her, to not give in, even to mommy and daddy.