Tales
Bobs and Bubbles 2
september 2015
May may used to love the water. Jumping in the pool from 6- 18 months without goggles or hesitation, launching herself with abandon sometimes before even mom or dad were ready to catch her. Her whole head would submerge, and she would surface with a sputter and a laugh. "Koda is a water baby," we said, "swimming will be so much easier for her." …
Fast foward 1.5 years, and the story was different. No longer was the water such a fun place. No jumping off the pool deck, no kicking around in mom and dad's arms. Just being held and ferried safely around.
"We missed our window!" we said. Indeed we did. Our 2014 fall Hawaii trip included several snorkling trips to an amazing tide pool right by our rental place where one person was relegated to Koda-watch, too scared of the water to even float safely in her Puddle Jumper floatie. Don't think we didn't try. Mom has never seen a human so scared of an Angelfish. So as this summer and fall approached, we had a goal: Get her comfortable putting her face in the water before we went back to Hawaii for Justin's boondoggle conference.
So the previously successful techniques with Terren-- new goggles, group lessons, motivational speeches, bribes of organic fig bars, and even an upgraded bribe of homemade ice cream -- all fell flat. "I don't want ice cream," she said -- to our astonishment. Mom came up with a great idea: blowing bubbles everyday into a large metal bowl we use to clean veggies. Little by little, she could blow bubbles with her goggles in the water, but in the pool, no joy. With just weeks to go before the Hawaii return, she started a daily 25 minute class at our local public pool, and somehow the combo finally came together.
Now she's in it to win it -- counting her bobs at the edge of the pool with a proud grin, ready for a second try at the oceans around the Big Island.
