All by myself!

This summer has yet to be real summer like. There was too much rain, and too many cool days. But whenever the sun shines, we'd change into our swim suites and head to the pool. So what if the water is still bitterly cold, we've got to make summer happen. This afternoon was no exception.
I blew up the floating ring, and we marched to the pool with it. The little girl spared no time stepping into the ring and got herself floating. Inexperienced as she was with the device, she sometimes struggled to maintain balance. But all in all, she managed to stay afloat and travel a few inches at a time by wiggling her whole body. If we reach out to help, she'd wave our hands away with a determined "I do it!" So be it. We'd retract our hands, but stay close to her as discreetly as we could, just to make sure there are no accidents. Then, it happened.
I was sitting at one end of the kiddie pool, my legs dangling in the cool, cool water, watching her play with her dad, and listening to her bright laughter erupting from time to time to hang over the pool like the golden sunlight. Her father was right beside her, helping her toss a soft ball back and forth with another little girl. At the end of their game, he told the little girl to "swim to mommy" and turned around to put the ball away. Right at the split second when he turned, the little girl launched herself almost out of the float, and plunged into the water, completely submerging into it.
I called her father, and rushed over to rescue her. Lifted out of the water, she was not coughing or choking, but did got some water in her eyes (the goggles she wore was more decorative then practical). "I need towel! I need a tissue!" she cried. I brought her out of the pool and bundled her up in the toasty blanket, mumbling mumble jumbles to calm her down. Except that she didn't need to be calmed down.
When she eventually stopped rubbing her eyes and showed her face, she had only one thing to say "Evelyn went under the water ALL BY MYSELF!", all proud like. As her mother, I could not be more proud and tickled by that statement. My brave little girl.