Swimming Champion!

Lexi and I have been doing mom and "tot" swim classes for several sessions now at our local YMCA. She enjoys being in the water, but she is timid, and has never been confident in her ability. However, over the past several months I have slowly been able to convince her to move from three, down to two, down to one bubble. Each time we move down I make a deal that she only has to try it for five minutes, and if it's too hard we'll go back up. We've never had to do that. Once she gets in and starts swimming around with less support, she is up and swimming in no time and has a blast.
The past two sessions we've gone to have been with a wonderful instructor, Mary Ann who encourages the kids to try swimming without their bubbles from 6 feet away to the wall almost every week. Lexi never wants to do this, and has refused to try up to this point. I don't push it because what's important to me right now is that she enjoys herself and has fun in the water.
So, last night we wandered into our last swim class of the session. Hand in hand we walked over to the bubble baskets and started looking for a good bubble. I saw that they had a few bubbles that had been cut in half, and suggested that we try one of those tonight. Lexi enthusiastically agreed, so we put it on. I joked with Mary Ann that if she did well, maybe next time we would try just using the belt! So, we hopped into the pool, and Lexi set off swimming and doing a great job. A few times her head went under, but she handled it well, and just worked harder to get herself out of the water. We swam around like this for awhile, while I tried to get her to realize that she needed to keep her butt up in order to move forward in the water. She was doing a great job. Then, Mary Ann told us to take off the bubble. I took it off and placed it on the side of the pool, while Lexi argued that she couldn't swim without it. I said to her, "Lexi, look at that little bubble, and now look at you. Do you think that tiny little bubble is holding you up in the water?" "Yes." she said quietly. "NO!" I laughed. "Who do you think is holding you up in the water?" "Mama?" she asked. "No..." "me?" "Yes!! You are holding yourself up! That little bubble can't hold up such a big girl!" I said enthusiastically. So, we went out 6 feet from the wall and made a deal. I told her I would hold onto her bathing suit to keep her up. She agreed, and as she started getting her arms and legs moving I held my own breath and let go. And I'll be damned, that girl swam all by herself to the wall. My little girl...the one who I once worried might never walk, swam BY HERSELF to the wall. And then did it again. Because she could. Proudest Mama Ever.