Fearless Grace.

Well, I just have to say how incredibly proud of Rylee I am. Let me explain something about her. She is the spunkiest, sweetest, happiest little girl I know and quite a little dare-devil at that. That is, all except for when it comes to the water and putting her face in! Rylee does not have very many fears. She loves bugs, frogs, lizzards, all kinds of animals, fish, rollercoasters [excluding Space Mountain], rock climbing, jumping off of super high things [that scares me...thank God for gymnastics and soft mats :)] and isn't even scared of the dark...BUT she will scream bloody murder if even the smallest dropplet of water gets near her eyes! It makes baths somewhat difficult to say the least. So anyway, I recognized this fear of hers very early on and I have put her in swim lessons every summer since she was about 2 years old. She HATES swim lessons, but I think it's super important for her to get over her fear and learn how to swim, especially for safety reasons.

This summer I decided to enroll her twice a week and to keep it on going intsead of just a 2 week session like I have done in the past. She has screamed and thrown a fit before almost every one of her classes and it has been so frustrating just trying to get her in the car. Every week it's the same thing, "But Mommy, I don't wanna go!! I don't wanna put my face in the water!" [whaaaa waaaaa and on and on] My reply, "Well, I'm sorry, BUT you're going." The other day she literally was still throwing a fit by the time we got to her lesson that I said, "That's it!" and I took her in the bathroom as she was screaming, "But I don't wanna put my face in the water!!!!" Yes, everyone in the pool area could hear her. Oh, joyful day. I basically just blurted out with hardly anymore patience left in my body, "Well, I don't know what to tell you, Rylee! You get your face wet at swim class!" I don't have a clue what happened, but all of a sudden I could see that something just miraculously clicked inside her 5 year old mind and she said sniffling, "Okay, Mommy... I'm going to put my face in." She stopped crying, went out, got in the water [and even had a smile on her face] and did everything her instructor asked her to do. Every time she would put her face in she would emerge with the world's biggest and proudest smile I had ever seen! After class when we got in the car she started telling me, "Mommy, I like how I feel after I go to swimming...and gymnastics. I feel proud of myself." I seriously could not believe my ears!!! Was that my 5 year old??!

Later that night at bed time I was telling her how proud I was of her and that even though going under water is a scary thing for her, she didn't let it stop her. She then said to me so grown-up-like, "Well, Mommy, I believe in myself...and if something scares you, you just gotta do it!" Well said from my 5 year old. By that time I was so incredibly proud I was about to pop!! I couldn't believe she was "getting it"! Stuff I have been telling her since she was probably way too little to understand, but she was actually getting it and believing it and living it!!!! Yay! Go Rylee! :)

And just a little info I think is kinda cool...We picked Rylee's name because it means 'fearless' and 'courageous'. :) Her middle name is Grace. Fearless Grace.