The pool

Elle loves the pool here. Today her and I spent a lot of time there and every day she gets more and more comfortable in the water. But today was a break through for me with her that I thought I would share for anyone else who has a VERY strong will and "I'll do it myself" type personality. (And I'd love any ideas/examples anyone else may want to share with me! It takes a village!)
 I have a challenging time teaching her things that require a process--she is super easy to teach facts to, but actions are much more difficult because she is so determined to lead- not follow. I want so much for her to learn not only how to follow directions about things that are not easy to do but also that good leaders are leaders who know how and what it is like to follow.
So with the swimming it has been a real process trying to encourage her to do more things in the water, without pushing her to where she doesn't like it or is scared of the water. So today I took a new approach and asked her to teach me. (really the best way to learn anyway) She LOVED it. I said "okay I am going to show you real quick how to use your arms and then you're going to teach me how to do it." We made our hands into "closed bear claws" and "scoop scoop scoop"ed the water behind us. And then she taught me- ever so carefully- correcting me and using her hands to show me and to push my fingers together. I pretended to wonder why we want our fingers together instead of appart,  and we "contemplated" it, etc... It worked great and in less than 10 minutes I made more progress with her than the last 3 pool visits combined. Her "getting" to teach ME meant so much to her and she was so proud of herself and it was obvious that the techniques will not be forgotten.