Swim Party and Conquering Fears

We had Morgan's birthday party this Saturday at a local indoor pool. We had never been to this pool before, but Morgan wanted a place that had a slide she could go down (this one has a small splash park including a slide - which of course I didn't get picture of!) and I wanted a place indoors so I wouldn't have to worry about the weather. We scheduled the party from 4:30 - 6:30 which worked out perfect. I didn't realize they didn't have a private party room and that our tables would just be in open area, but since our party was later in the day, we had the place to ourselves by food and present time.

Every year Morgan picks a cake that isn't flat and every year it is an absolute disaster to cut. I guess it doesn't matter how it looks on the plate, only how it tastes in the belly.




The theme for the day was bravery. Morgan was so brave and tried two new things. First, she wanted to go on the slide in the deep end. This slide dumps you out a good four feet above the water. You can sort of tell how high up it is in the picture below, behind Laura's (in the white shirt) head. And did I mention it's in the deep end? And that Morgan's still not the best swimmer?

Well, we went with her over to slide and sat on the edge so we could rescue her if the need be while Eddie jumped into the water and tread water, waiting for her at the bottom. She climbed to the top and then sat there, and sat there, and sat there. Finally, she climbed back down the steps all shaken and upset. She agreed to try again if I stood at the bottom of the stairs near her. And this time, with a slight hesitation, she did it! And then she did it again, and again and again with us all just standing on the side. The funny thing is, that she never came up for a breathe after she went in. She would go down and immediately start swimming to the side. I later told her it would be easier if she came up, took a breath and then started to swim, but she informed me that she preferred it the other way.

After conquering the deep end slide, she really wanted to do the big slide. Technically, she was not tall enough to go down, but since her taller friends were doing it, we thought we'd see if they would let her anyways. After all, this slide ended in the shallow water, and if she could handle the other one, surely she could handle this one.

So she headed up there, made it passed the lifeguard, and we waited and waited and waited for her to come down. Finally, she climbed back down the steps all shaken and upset (sound familiar?). I offered to go up with her.

On the way up she told me her concerns. In one spot the sides were lower - would she fall out? Of course not. They would never, ever make it so a kid could fall out, they have to make it safe. The water at the top was really hard and it freaked her out. It's only hard at the top because it has to push all the way down the slide. Once you get going, it's fine.

When it got to be her turn, she asked the lifeguard to give her a little push. And down she went...


...again and again and again.