healthy fear of water

Yesterday Ada attended her first pool party of the summer. Last year she went to three or four and by the time the summer ended she was a little water lover. Well, the fall, winter and spring happened and she forgot how much fun water could be. So we spent most of yesterday's pool party with Elliot and I in the water, standing next to the side of the pool where Ada was sitting with her feet in the water. She faked like she was going to get into the water a couple of times, turning around on her belly so she could kick her feet in the water like the big kids, but never slid in. She did agree to come into the water once, early on, until she realized what she had agreed to; and she did jump into the water once but then quickly realized that she had jumped into water and screamed her new piercing scream until we pulled her out. Then there were the three times I scooped her up and brought her into the water with me but those too were accompanied by the piercing scream so we gave up. Ada was content to sit on the side of the pool throwing every toy that was once on the side of the pool into the water.

She did happen to fall in once when she was trying to retreive an orange football that was right by the edge. Luckily both Elliot and I were there to scoop her up out of the water and eventually put her back up on the 'blanket' as she moaned out her request over and over again. This one tumble was enough for her to refuse to come anywhere near the edge of the pool again. And while I'd love for her to love the water, as an over protective worrywart of a mother, I'm also very thankful for her healthy fear of the water.