Swimming Swimmingly

This:

Is this necessary???? Am I missing some piece of common knowledge about the dangers of exposing your children to the sun? I mean, I've got the suncreen SPF 90000 down. We try very hard to wear hats, but ever since D developed a game where the kids try to take off his hat (eyeroll), we have limited success with hatwear. We try to keep them under the stroller shade, though. But seriously, Isn't some amount of sun good for kids? Or has global warming made it all go to hell. These kids (from the baby store "One Step Ahead") look like they are in hazmat gear.

Anyway.

The kids had their first swimming 'lesson' on Saturday. Waaaaaay too early in the morning for me to get myself up and the kids in swimsuits and get in the water on a Saturday Morning. Lessons were at nine. But once we got there, it was OK and then I put them in daycare and I actually went back to the pool area, did my 25 minutes of lap swimming, then hung out on a lounge chair by the outdoor pool for a while. It was the first time I've done this in about forever. I felt like I was on vacation, even though my house was less than a mile away. Now I'm all looking forward to next week so I can do it again.

The kids were more scared of the water than I had expected them to be. They love the bath and the last/only other time we put them in a big pool, they loved it. They were about 11 months old, then. This time, well, lets just say the instructor called them Koala Bears. They were pretty clingy. Naim just starting loosening up near the end, but then we had to go. The class is only for one half hour. I noticed that the younger babies in the class were not as scared as the older babies. I wonder when they learned fear like this? When the kids were about 3-5 months old, I would take them in the bathtub with me sometimes and they would just lay there on my chest. I could lay them on their backs and just barely hold their heads up and they would float around the bathtub, perfectly relaxed. It was actually one of my last resort methods if I couldn't get them to settle down.

Now, there was no way they were going to let me put them on their backs in the water. Although by the end, I did hold Naim facing away from me and we watched his feet float up to the surface. I also put him on the second to the top step so he could stand up himself, and he seems to like that. Aaron was having none of that, though. Aaron was with the instructor the whole time, and since she was a stranger and somewhat distracted talking to the other parents, I can see him being a little more nervous. Next week I will try to switch them and see how he does.

Today, since it is a mere 102 degrees here, I took them out to our little blow-up pool in the back yard. They loved that, and we stayed out for almost an hour until I began to worry about their sunscreen wearing off. This time, Aaron purposefully kept shoving his face into the water. He would cough, but thought it was hilariously funny. I taught him how to blow into the water and make bubbles so he wouldn't cough so much. It was hysterical. He did more of a raspberry blowing something, but thought it was great fun. The neighbors surely must have loved watching me (fully clothed) crouch over the side of the pool and put my face in and over exaggerate blowing into the pool. The things you do as a mother to teach your kids stuff.

Yesterday was my birthday (I'm 36! Old!). D took us all to the beach. I wanted to go, and it was okay, but next year I'm going to tell him that if he wants to get me something for my birthday, he can get me a babysitter and plan something where I do not have to lift a finger all day long. The thing about going places with D and two kids is that I have to do EVERYTHING. Pile all the stuff in the car, cut everybody's food at the restaurant, help everyone get in and out of wherever, help D manage his medical equipment and tubing, help the kids manage their toys they brought along, etc. etc. etc. It's just exhausting. On another day, I would have been fine with it, but yesterday it just seemed like so much work.

But it was nice when we finally got to the coast. It was in the nineties here in the city, but at the coast it was a nice 75. I did not take the kids down to the water because I cannot help D through the sand and manage 2 kids with the Pacific ocean right there to swallow us all up. We walked along a promenade along the beach and people watched for a while. I did let the kids play in the sand just a few feet off the path (and several hundred feet from the ocean) so D could watch them play. Aaron just went nuts in the sand. He thought it was the best thing ever. He grabbed fistfuls and held them up and let them fly away. The amount of sand I washed out of his hair and out of his shoes was incredible. Naim was not so enamored with the sand. He was more interested in walking around on the side walk like a little big shot. He did not like that the sand was uneven and threw him off balance.

Afterwords, we went and had ice cream and then drove home. It takes a little over an hour to drive to the coast. When we got home, I had to feed them something more, and they simply had to have baths. They didn't get to bed until 10:14. Today, we slept in and blew off working out. But they got to swim again, so they seem plenty exhausted.

Comments

[Sara]

Happy birthday!!! I like the idea of a sitter and not having to lift a finger :) Just wait til the kids start planning your birthdays though - it's a hoot.

[shannon]

Great photos!
Cole, former baby swimming instructor says if you teach your baby only one thing about water, teach her to blow bubbles. So you are on it, clearly.

What's your mailing address? I have a birthday present for you!