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 Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 1:41 am
Even with the decreasing energy Lissy was still overly enthusiastic about going to the lake every day. She loved swimming and had made that clear to just about everyone! The lifeguards were probably sick of her already but she didn't care. Today she was going to teach Ainsley to swim!
The thought of teaching someone else had possibly given Lissy all the energy back that she had seemingly lost. She was so happy to be teaching someone that she had practically dragged Ainsley down to the lake.
Lissy of course jumped straight in and swam about before coming ashore to show Ainsley the best way to get in and then start swimming.
"Make sure when you get in you stick your shoulders under, in fact sticking your head under is also a good start or you might get cold!" The water was a little chilly but Lissy was use to it by now.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 1:55 am
Ainsley couldn't believe she was here standing on the beach looking at Lissy, all dressed to actually go in the water. Her hair was all tied back in two braids, and she had a cute pink bathing suit on. Her feet were in first, cautiously as she took two steps in. It was a bit cold and she couldn't help but look around at those on the beach and those in the water. Everyone else seemed fine... she managed to take a couple more steps in until she was up to her waist, letting out a squeal as she felt the water hit her midsection.
"Ah!" She whined. "It's cold!"
There was no way she wanted to go in further! Stick her shoulders under? Her head? She'd freeze! Instead she lingered in the spot and looked down into the lake's bottom. There weren't too many rocks, and there was a lot of sand cushioning her feet. If she looked up, she'd see Lissy there. Might get cold if she didn't put her head under? It was already cold.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 2:04 am
Lissy just looked at Ainsley and laughed. She got out of the water and went up to her, she wanted to in a way push her in but if she did that she would never be allowed to teach swimming! So instead she tried to be a little bit more reassuring.
"Look you will get use to it! It's like when you go outside and it's super hot but then you get use to it and don't realise it so much!" Lissy was trying here, though she had no idea if it was working in the slightest!
"Look come on, it's easy! Just get in the water... then we can pretend we are fishes!" Lissy loved to think she was a fish that was generally until she had stayed under the water too long and needed to come back up for air! She loved swimming though so to Lissy it was just another one of those things that she could do easily so was sure everyone else could as well!
"Come on Ainsley!" Lissy was really trying to urge her in... "I don't want to have to push you..." Okay so she wouldn't be a good swimming teacher saying that either but she was a kid at the moment anyway....
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 2:29 am
All of Lissy's urging was not doing any good, at least until she mentioned being a fish. Ainsley liked the idea of that! Fish had to be in water, she knew that much! They couldn't survive outside of water very long and if she were a fish that meant she was already failing! She tried to put her arms in all the way but quickly retracted with a squeak, trying to look for another solution when Lissy began to suggest she'd push her in. Oh no, that wouldn't be very good at all! Imagine how cold it would be if she was suddenly under water!
"Aaah! Don't push me!" She flailed and took a step back from Lissy, tripping over what seemed to be the only rock on the entire lake bed... and then falling into the water backwards. She sunk, and didn't come back up immediately. It was immediately cold and she wasn't sure what she was doing. How do you swim? What do you do? Her feet moved, and with that she found herself standing again. Although only a few seconds had passed before she figured out she could still stand up in this part of the lake, it felt like forever to her.
She ended up on the surface facing the wrong way and feeling a bit lost until she turned around to find Lissy again. What would she say? Would she complain that the water was horrible and now she was wet and cold? Possibly, but instead she said something else.
"Can we do it again?"
And then she giggled. She didn't have to worry about having to be able to swim right here!
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 4:34 am
Lissy was glad that progress was being made, and then not but then Ainsley fell in and all was right in the world. At least it was for Lissy as she didn't have to try and get Ainsley in the water, she fell in which was a better option then being pushed in.
As Ainsley fell in Lissy did move quite suddenly, wanting to make sure she was okay but she came up quick enough and seemed to have enjoyed it? Well that was a little unexpected! She wasn't moaning of course! At least Ainsley was in the water and well she had defiantly got her head under already. This was all good... erm... what to do next?
"Right come towards me a bit now, if we go into the lake a bit more we can be fishes! If you want to take my hand you can, nothing will happen to you, all the lifeguards are here!" She pointed to them dotted around the lake. They were as safe as can be and Lissy wanted to make sure Ainsley felt safe otherwise she wouldn't enjoy swimming!
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 5:25 am
"But it's deep over there and my inner tube is over on the beach!"
It was apparently Ainsley wasn't ready to leave the shallow area of the lake, especially not without her inner tube. How would she float without it? It was so easy for her to sink, as she had so clearly demonstrated whens he fell into the water not very long ago. She didn't move, in fact she sunk down into the lake until just her head was staring up at Lissy, her toes digging into the sand below them.
"C-can I go get my inner tube?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 5:45 am
"No! You aren't going to be able to swim with that! We aren't going much deeper and like I said there are plenty of lifeguards who will save your life it you drowned which you won't." Lissy was very matter of fact with how she spoke, it was just how she was. She liked to let everyone know that this was how life was suppose to be and well it seemed simple enough to her.
"Now come on, we won't go much deeper, but if you can touch the floor easily you won't take your feet off! Now give me your hand, I won't let go!" She held her hand out to Ainsley and smiled. Lissy was bossy to say the least but she was going to get Ainsley swimming even if it was only the doggie paddle!
"Can you swim at all?" Lissy wanted to check before she tried to teach her basic stuff like kicking.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 6:15 am
Lissy said no and Ainsley found herself staring towards the shore longingly at the inner tube. It looked so lonely over there all by itself! It surely wanted to be wrapped around her waist while she splashed around in the water. It was her life line! How could Lissy say she didn't need that to swim? It was the magical flotation device that stopped her from sinking to the bottom of the lake! She might sink into the depths of the lake and the lifeguards won't be able to find her! The thought of drowning didn't occur to her, but the thought of being a princess trapped at the bottom of a lake did.
"But I can't swim at all..." she whispered, her face getting closer to the water and she stared down, her hand trailing along the water's surface closer to Lissy's.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:57 am
Lissy grabbed Ainsleys hand as soon as she was close enough and just smiled.
"It's fine, we won't go much deeper then this but we don't want you getting bruises because your legs keep hitting rocks or something!" She smiled trying to make it all seem a lot more innocent then it possible seemed to Ainsley.
"Have you been swimming before? Like ever taught before?" Lissy wanted to find out what Ainsley knew before she tried to teach her anything. She knew that some teachers had to reteach kids - she had heard them moaning about it! She was going to be the best teacher ever and Ainsley would be her first! It would all be perfect!
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 5:10 pm
Ainsley's hand had been grabbed by the other child and she squeezed it. A nervous squeeze and it took for Lissy to reassure the child about what they would do for her to relax her grip. If she said they wouldn't go much deeper then Ainsley believed her. It was nice of Lissy to concern herself with Ainsley's well-being and in exchange the child gave her a small smile in return and stood up out of the water so she was no longer just a depressed little head bobbing in the water.
"Never," she said simply. Her mother hadn't exactly put swimming on the list of important things her daughter should be taught how to do.
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 12:02 am
Never? How could she have never been taught how to swim? Lissy looked horrified! She soon shook her head though and just smiled again.
"Right well most people would tell you not to do this but to start off with we will get you doing doggy paddle! Have you seen a dog swim before? Or a cat or anything else. Though cats don't like water do they? So yeah a dog swim?" Lissy hoped she might have at least seen a dog swim! She loved the fact that she could swim and really wondered how someone had never been taught! Ah well if Ainsley could be doing doggy paddle by the end of the day Lissy would be happy. They had the rest of camp to teach her to swim properly.
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 1:03 am
The child wasn't familiar with the doggypaddle. It was possible she had seen someone doing it before but she couldn't put an action to a name. In fact, for the moment until Lissy mentioned seeing a dog or cat swimming the child was thinking something more along the lines of one of the canoe paddles with a dog's face on it. It was a short moment, and then the idea of a cat or dog swimming was introduced? She thought about it and the idea of Cora in the bath tub came to the child's mind immediately but she couldn't really imagine trying to swim like that. Perhaps she could understand better if she had a demonstration from Lissy?
"Could you show me how?" She asked her.
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Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 4:24 am
"Sure!" Though Lissy was still curious if Ainsley had ever seen an animal swim it really would help! Either way she moved further out into the lake, her legs were kicking in front of her but her arms were beneath her moving much like a dog would in water. She swam around in a few circles before heading back towards Ainsley.
"Did you see okay?" She wasn't sure if she would have as the water wasn't overly clear and Lissy was terrible at doggy paddle! She was so use to not doing it that it felt strange to be doing it.
"We can try it here where it's shallow because it's not proper swimming or anything, just be careful you don't hit any of the rocks!" Lissy smiled as she spoke, she just wanted Ainsley to be able to enjoy the water, after all every kid should be able to get in water and swim and mess about!
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:28 am
Ainsley made sure to watch Lissy as she demonstrated the swimming technique, hoping to be able to figure out how to do it. It was sort of hard to make it out in the lake water but she sort of got the idea of wading in from it. She wasn't sure if she could do it though! She was nervous about the idea and hoped she would be able to do it!
"I think so," she replied to her with a nod. She'd try right here in the shallow water like Lissy suggested and hoped she didn't sink. If she did, at least she would be able to stand back up, yeah? The child sort of bobbed in the water for a moment, her arms moving but her legs still touching the floor of the lake for a moment until she tried to lift them up and still float, moving her arms and trying to move her legs. She didn't float though and she began to sink down into the water as she flailed about. So not lady-like, not at all. She wasn't giving up though, stubborn as a rock waiting on the ground with the mass similarities of one too too. Some rocks could skip over the water before they sank though and Ainsley seemed to find herself able to float for just a moment before sinking.
Progress! After sinking her head under the water again, she came up with a small smile. Was she getting better?
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 12:59 am
Lissy watched Ainsley with interest it seemed that her problem was that she couldn't float! Lissy should have thought about that earlier! Ah well at least Ainsley was getting better!
"Oooo I have an idea!" Lissy smiled and swam over towards Ainsley.
"You seem to have issues floating so we will get you floating first! You need to lay on the water and try and get your belly to touch the sky!" She smiled and then showed her what she meant.
Lissy laid on top of the water with ease, it was so relaxing to just lay there.
"You need to look at the sky! Your body goes where you tend to look so if you look at the sky you will stay floating!" She then showed Ainsley what happened when you looked away and sure enough she started sinking but this was Lissy and so she got up again and walked over to Ainsley.
"I can hold onto you if you are scared!"
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