Felicity didn't learn to swim this summer but she did get much, much better at being in the water. Last summer she would walk around in two feet (swimming in Chinese) but she would never be where her feet didn't touch the bottom, and she wouldn't even be held if her feet couldn't touch the bottom. This summer we went all over the pool but she was not content to be alone, so we spent a lot of time together. She liked to do this thing where we would mush up against each other and she'd yell, Falling in love! Then I'd push her away and she'd cry, falling out of love. She could do it over and over and OVER, seemingly never getting sick of it, or me.
She likes to sleep with us, because she doesn't want to be alone, she says. We point out she is not alone and in fact she shares a room with TWO people. She wants to sleep with a GROWNUP, she corrects herself. I'd say more than half the week she comes into our bed.
She is doing so well in school, this morning she told me, I want you to drive away now, before I could even walk her in to school. There is a little boy at the school where I teach who goes in EVERY DAY, screaming and yelling. Every day he has to be physically removed from his mother and then he screams and cries for hours. He's been in school for a month! I find myself so grateful that Felicity doesn't behave like that that I don't care if she can't swim or that she likes to sleep with a grownup, namely me. I think this might be the secret of happiness, just lowering and lowering expectations until they don't even exist anymore.
