Samantha Jumps!

From the Daddy.

I have come to the conclusion that I have a little girl that has every bit of the daring ambition that I have... and it makes me a little nervous. She has not even started Kindergarden yet!!!!!!! Samantha has been making great strides with her skills in swimming. Holding her breath, jumping in from the side of the pool, treading water, and swimming a short distance. We went to the swimming pool today and every once in a while I like to go off and go to the deep end and jump off of the diving boards. Both kids love to watch me and after a couple of times we will go back to the shallow end and swim together. However, today was a little different. After I went off of the diving boards and exited the water, Samantha asked if she could go. Heidi and I looked at each other with that "did I just hear her correctly" look. After a short pause I said "a... sure." And so she did. She went to the low board, climbed the ladder and jumped off as if she had been doing this for years. We were impressed. As if that wasn't shocking enough the us, after a couple of times on the low board she asked to go on the high diving board. Heidi and I were both amazed at this and decided that we would not hold her back. I have to admit there were several thoughts that went through my mind. Like, there is a good possibility that she would do a belly buster, or that she would go deep under water and have difficulty making it to the surface, or be so tired as to not be able to swim back to the side of the pool. It even made me nervous to watch her climb the ladder to the top of the high dive. For these reasons I stayed very close to the diving board and side of the pool during the whole event. I was ready to jump in just in case anything happened. The jump went well. I never want to hold my kids back from anything that they want to try. However, this tested my courage in that philosophy. I am so proud of my kids.