Look Mom! No hands!

M has discovered that she can float in her "floaty thing." Truly. She can float. And not hold on to Mom because she floats in her floaty thing.

She's only really gotten in the water in the last few weeks and only while holding onto someone, even while wearing her flotation device.
But tonight I said, "Let go of my hands and count to 3." and she let go. Being the trustworthy parent I am, I quickly counted to 10, and then to 60. And then she said, "Count to ONE HUNDRED!" So I did. And she bobbled independently, near me, but not holding on, getting further away until I thought some sort of current or wind was taking her away from me.
Then I looked down in the water at her little feet and saw her pedaling them as fast as she could--racing away, alone.
"Look what a good swimmer I am! I can float! I'm NOT sinking. I'm swimming!"

And I said, "Don't forget that you have your floaty thing on and shouldn't take it off." Then I did what any good parent would do, I got out of the pool and read a trashy magazine.