My no-fear child

It continues to amaze me how different my children are from each other. You have one child, and you think you have this parent thing figured out and know how to handle them, then you have another one, and it is a whole different ballgame. Since having four I have realized that they are all very different, their own personalities, and what works for one will not necessarily (and usually won't) work for the others. That said, Miss E is my no-fear child. She is not afraid of anything. This showed itself quite young in her life, especially in regards to water, which caused me no end of near heart attacks. When she was about 3 we were in route to our vacation and stopped at a hotel with a pool. Our family of 3 little girls was walking down to the pool. Ben opened the gate, and they all walked in, and I sat down to get floaters on and do sunscreen, but Miss E just kept walking and just walked right into the 5 foot deep part of the pool. No pausing, no stopping her and no floaters on. Near heart attack moment for my 20 something self. Total panic. Luckily Ben, who was closer to the pool, jumped down and grabbed her. Another family at the pool, their dad rushed over. She was fished out and was smiling and sputtering, then we had our "no walking into the pool" lecture, put her floaters on, and she jumped right back in. No fear.

At the cool town we went to over the 4th they also have a really fun $3 water park. It had a 10 foot diving board. Can you guess who didn't even pause on the way up??? This little spunky 8 year old was diving in from the 10 foot while boys twice her age were backing down scared from even going off it. When she was 7 years old we went to an aquatic center that had a 15 foot platform, and she had no qualms about jumping off that--no driving then, just jumping off. Another near heart attack for me. Thankfully she learned young to swim well. At the water park there was a little crowd of people on the side--one of them the mother of the scared 17 year old that wouldn't jump off--cheering her on and clapping when she dove in, commenting on her dives. Another thing this girl loves is performing for a crowd. She was so in her element. My no-fear child, gotta love her.

Getting ready. . .
Getting set. . .

Dive.

Pretty good for an 8-year-old. Much better than me. I would be following the 17-year-old back down the steps because I would be too scared to go off too. Having no-fear is not one of my attributes. Don't know where she gets it from :)