Swimming at the pool

I know, I know. Kiawah. I'll get there.




A friend of mine lives in a townhome right around the corner from me. Her townhome complex has a little pool that we have been invited to in past years. This year, my friend is in Slovakia for the entire summer, in an attempt to immerse her young children in her husband's native language. (now that her husband has returned to the US for work, she is the lone English speaker for 5 long weeks, might I add, which I believe makes her the clear winner for wife of the year). Anyhoo, she was kind enough to give me a few of her pool tags to use this summer.

We finally went for the first time on Tuesday. I was a little nervous to go with 3 kids all by myself, but I knew this is a small, uncrowded pool...so my best chance of success compared to other summer pool options.

It was...fun! Lovely! We went again yesterday. And it was again wonderful. Andrew is diving after the diving sticks I bought him and wearing himself out re-learning his swimming skills. Lily is nervous and scared, but willing to let me take her out into the water. Her job this summer is to just get comfortable with the water, so swim lessons will go better in the fall. After 2 pool visits, she is already holding on with just hands, blowing bubbles, and kicking off the wall. Huge progress. Michael is being his normal fearless self...but he has surprised me with what a good listener he can be. When I take Lily out in the water with me, he sits obediently on the steps with his trucks. When I needed to take Lily to the bathroom, he got out of the pool and happily sat on a towel in the grass with a bag of pretzels.

Yesterday, he was in rare form. He snagged a someone else's noodle and started walking towards the steps. I told him he needed to ask if he could take it (even though the owner had already smiled and nodded at me that it was okay). Mike looked at the man, hugged the noodle, and said, "I love this!" Not quite the question I was looking for, but it worked!

He took the noodle and floated around with it a bit. But it was much more fun for pretend. It became his elephant trunk, his monkey tail, and his trumpet. Finally, he got the idea that it was a fishing pole. He stuck it in the water and instantly caught a fish...Andrew. Andrew flopped himself up on the side of the pool and wriggled like a fish. Michael announced, "Dis poodle ha dead fish!" (this pool has dead fish). He really was traumatized by that Bald Eagle Lake.

He was also mischievious...squirting me with water from our water shooters. As soon as I'd approach him to tickle him or drag him into the water, he would begin saying, "I love you ma, I love you, I love you." Trying to soften up the attack. He did the same thing to Andrew.


Oh, and Andrew got his quips in too. Lily was telling a joke at the dinner table after swim time. No one was really listening because we were still rushing around getting everyone's plates ready. After she finished her joke and got no response, Andrew said, "Apparently, we are NOT amused."