If anything, being a parent has been a very humbling experience. Whether it's teaching Sera to trace the dots or to ride a bicycle, it's all the same because I've learned (yes, I've had some silly expectations) that I have to accept that it'd be a 'fresh slate' with her (and Yasmin) and that any unrealistic expectation will only take the fun out of learning and exploring together with the girls. But Sera gave us a some surprises this week. I've been telling her that she'd have to ride on her bicycle to her new school, come this September so that meant we had to get her on her bicycle and 'practice, practice and practice'. She's become a pro on her scooter but the bicycle just hasn't caught her interest. If anything, Sera loves the simplicity and the less intimidated look of the scooter. The bicycle may come across as being a little too daunting for her. However, the idea of cycling to school has gotten her excited thus she did go on it a few times this week and she did do us proud. Now, she's peddling on her own, putting in great effort, using her leg muscles, steering the handle bars ... ahhh, this girl does have some determination.
And the other surprise was when we were in the pool a few days ago. All of a sudden, she said she wanted to take off her floats. I was like, "Ok but stay on the steps." So I stayed close to her while she starting doing 'bunny hops' along the length of the steps which was chest high. Then she started to do a 'hop, hop and a head dunk' into the water. Huh??? I was so shocked and I could only laugh nervously with her when she came sputtering out, her eyes wet and wide, her nose red and her mouth full of chlorine water. Her expression was priceles, that of a little fear, surprised by her own courage and in the end, mostly glee. My heart was beating super fast but I was excited because for the longest time, I was never able to get her to put her head underwater.
I hugged her and told her how proud I was of her and encouraged her to go underwater if she felt like it. And she did ... ! Her 'hop, hop, head dunk' sequence went on for many times over and every time she emerged out of the water, I was ready to hug, laugh and celebrate with her. The people at the pool were probably wondering what all the commotion was about but we were having the best time ever. So yah, we were at the pool this afternoon again and she's getting braver each time ... now, I need to figure out how I'm going to teach her to float?
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