The Diving Board

While Caroline crawled at seven months and walked at nine, coordination has never been her thing. She can climb and do monkey bars like a circus performer but many things have just escaped her. In the past year or so, she has really been noticing the differences between herself and her peers. Somehow though, in the past month, her body has caught up with her wishes. She hits a ball with a bat, she hula hoops, she rides a Razor scooter with ease.

Yesterday at the pool, Caroline jumped into the deep end unaided, swam for lengths at a time- holding her head out of the water when she needed a break, treading her legs the whole time. While Rob was never more than a few feet from her, she never needed him. As Caroline watched her older cousin jump from the diving board, she asked Rob when she could go on the diving board. Rob told her that whenever she was ready, she could try- to which she replied, "How about now?"

Rob caught my attention at the baby pool and we all congregated at the diving board. She looked so tiny walking out on the big board. She kept looking up and then down. I tried not to look at her while my sister-in-law and I exchanged stories of how terrified we had been of diving boards when we were little. I couldn't believe that my little girl was getting ready to jump off the board- at age five...

At the last moment, Caroline looked at Rob, said, "No thank you Daddy." and climbed back down the ladder. My little girl will remain little for at least one more week...