I decided to take a risk during flu season and sign Nika up for swimming lessons so that she could swim during the summer,she will be 4 1/2 after all. It turns out it wasn't so great of a risk to take but it pointed to some clues to figuring her out. The first lesson went tolerably well, although she did spend a little bit of time crying because she was scared. She didn't like the swimming instructor make her float on her back. She spent the next couple of days talking about how she didn't like her swimming lessons but I forged ahead anyway. I convinced her best friend's mother to sign her up as well thinking that she would handle it better. Well I was wrong. Zoe did great - she loved the teacher (who is wonderful, by the way) and the class. Nika cried the entire time again. I watched through the glass wall, trying not to intervene. Finally, after crying the entire time, she started coughing. I zipped out of the lobby and back to the pool where I got her out. I said that that was enough and that we were risking her health at that point. Her teacher, whom I had briefed about Nika's health, completely agreed (like I said, she's great!). If you think that is ridiculous here is the pattern: Nika, aged two, throws a fit because she wants to get out at the grocery store with me. She falls asleep while I am inside and just as I am handing the money over for a week's worth of groceries, Paul sends Elias in to say that Nika is vomiting over and over again and we have to go to the hospital. I take off, leaving the groceries on the belt, and we are in the hospital for the next two days. Several days ago, Nika was angry because I wouldn't allow her to watch another movie. It was late and past her bedtime. She screamed and thrashed around for a long time but then fell asleep. The next morning she woke up vomiting violently. We were yet again in the hospital for two days. So that is the pattern and I recognized the same thing coming on at the swimming lessons. I guess I caught in time enough for us to avoid a hospital stay, although I had to use anti-nausea medications and breathing treatments to avoid it the day after the lessons. But now she has a bad cold - the coughing never stopped and has gotten worse. I'm still not knowledgeable enough in this area to understand why this happened, although I would venture to guess it has to do with swallowing pool water while she was crying. So Nika is back in seclusion, where I likely should have kept her in the first place. One of us will go to church with the older kids and one of us will stay home with her. I'm glad for the experience, however unpleasant it has been. It has shown me that there is a recognizable pattern and that there is a possibility of managing it at home. I have her wonderful T.C. Thompson doctors and residents to thank for that (Dr. Santucci and another one that I can't remember her name) and Dr. Sanderson, her pediatrician, - thank you!