On our last night in North Carolina, we went for a pre-bedtime swim at the hotel. By the time we got back from Dana & Paul’s house, it was really past bedtime, but Annalie basically regards hotels as large buildings built around swimming pools. She spends most of her time at any hotel asking if we can swim, when we can swim, how long till we can swim again, and so on. I felt it would be cruel to stay at a hotel for two nights and only let her swim once, especially since we had a room that looked out onto the pool.

We quickly put our suits and Annalie’s lifejacket on and went out to the pool. Annalie didn’t hesitate or test the water first, she just splashed down the steps into the shallow end of the unheated pool, laughing the whole time. I took a few pictures, since the day before I hadn’t taken any. Then I put down the camera and got in the pool with her.

Almost as soon as I got in, Annalie asked if she could take off her lifejacket. She had taken it off the last ten minutes or so of our swim the day before and stayed mostly in the shallow end of the pool or in the hot tub. I said sure, that was fine.

I helped her out of the almost-too-small vest and draped it on a poolside chair to drip. When I got back in the pool, Annalie informed me that she was going to swim into the deep end. “And I don’t want you to help me, Mama, I just want you to walk by me.”

She set off, furiously doggy-paddling and panting loudly as though she were swimming the English Channel, not a 10-meter kidney-shaped pool. I walked alongside her, offering encouragement but no physical assistance. Once or twice her face went under but she bobbed right back up, coughing a little, and kept going. I reminded her that she could always turn over onto her back and float if she needed a little break, and she did that a couple of times for a few seconds, then flipped right back over and continued her energetic swimming.

She swam the length of the pool, then turned around and swam back to the shallow end. She was proud of herself. I was proud of her. The older ladies who were there with their grandkids were proud of her, and told her so. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile any bigger.

As we walked back to our room she mentioned how hungry she was. “You know what would be really good?” she asked hopefully. “Some ice cream.”

I considered it, then said, “Sure. Since you swam all the way across the pool and back, you can have some ice cream before bedtime.” She whooped and ran down the hall to the vending machine that sold frozen treats. That was another one of those saying-yes-when-your-kid-expects-no moments. I love those.

And hey—Annalie’s on her way to swimming! That deserves some ice cream, don’t you think?

p.s. We’re in Virginia Beach now, visiting Meg & Sam.

More about that, and about our super-fun visit with Dana & Paul and Brett & Leo in NC, soon! For now you can see photos in the photosets on Flickr North Carolina – Aug 2009 and Virginia Beach – August 2009