"I told my brain"

My four year olds are taking survival swim lessons and it has been awesome to watch them face their fear.

C fell in the lake a few weeks and didn't even make a splash. She had a life jacket on and things worked out fine but we had two problems. A four year old that was convinced she could swim and the discovery that she doesn't scream, splash and panic when she falls in ice cold water.

We enrolled them in swimbabes which is a survival class (10 session) focused on teaching not breathing water, floating, and moving into the water.

During the second lesson, C got her blue ribbon for jumping in on her own, turning on her back and floating for 10 seconds - three times. The ribbon comes with a picture of her floating, a certificate, water slide privileges and the rare ability to have something her sister doesn't have.

K spent most of the weekend getting her plan in place so that she could get a ribbon. The only problem is that she doesn't like water in her face and her float couldn't make the count. She did have a plan and through sheer will, she got her blue ribbon on Monday.

By the next class, she was kick boarding with her head under water from one side of the pool to the other. She told my wife what she did to learn how to swim

"I told my brain 'you can do it', and I did it"

Wow, what amazing things I can learn from my girls. I now know what I need to do to make it to and through Ironman Canada.