That’s My Daughter in the Water

posted Thursday July 7th, 2011


I wish you could see Sophie swim. Truth is, you might be terrified — she pretty much always looks like she’s about to drown. But she’s not!

In this dusty, overheated hell hole we call home, you have no choice. You must swim. And now Sophie can. At least, she’s well on her way.

Yesterday, Sophie got her medal at swim class for jumping in, turning around, swimming to the wall and touching it. Your kid probably did that when she was 3, or younger. I can’t recall how old Annabelle was, it was that long ago.

Umpteen swim schools and lessons later, Sophie did it. She passed the next level and got to participate in SwimKids cute little “Olympic” ceremony. She called me at work and I rushed down the hall to Ray’s office so she could tell him, too: “I got a medal!”

Now we really need a pool. And Special Olympics swimming sign ups are next month. I wonder if she’s ready for that? For the moment I think we’ll just revel a bit.

At dinner last night, Sophie said something I didn’t quite catch. I asked her to repeat it, but I still couldn’t understand.

“You want to put your medal on a shelf?” I asked, confused.

“No!” Annabelle said, playing with her peas, looking a little disgusted. (By peas or me, not sure.)

“She said, `I’m so proud of myself.’”

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Tags: Filed under: Down syndrome, sisters by Amysilverman

11 Responses to “That’s My Daughter in the Water”

  1. Hooray for Sophie, now tell her there is an open invitation to come to my pool and show me her new skillz!

  2. yay, heather! we can’t wait!

  3. Wow! That is a moment to be treasured for sure! Sophie’s comment brought tears to my eyes, as isn’t that what we all wish for for our children?
    (And don’t you just love that Annabelle translates?!) ;)

  4. That is awesome! We are proud of her too!

  5. Amazing – Sophie is amazing!

  6. I just read the story with Sarah and she says, “Good Job, Sophie!”

  7. Awww – I’m proud of her too & I’ve never met her. You go Sophie!

  8. Reaching another milestone! Great job Sophie!

  9. You go, girl ! I’m very proud of you!

  10. Something so powerful about a child announcing to the world that they are proud of themselves, isn’t there? Always makes me feel slightly verklempt.

  11. Sophie looks so fit and happy in that picture. Yay Sophie. (And her whole family!)

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