The year's growth from 3.5 to 4.5 has made a world of difference in activities I can take them to on my own. That may sound silly to some of you, but before you judge me for not venturing out alone with my twins - I challenge you to come here and try taking them say... to the beach, by yourself. Or, the Children's Museum. Or the playground. Or - ask my mother... to the optician's. (actually, there, we had 3 adults to 2 kids and it still was the most hellish shopping trip I have ever experienced with them. Alright, I'll give you a break - you can skip the optician. (They don't wear glasses, we were just there for cool sunglasses (Carl's pics, too). And high blood pressure.) Just one example is the beach. Gretchen wants to sit and build sand castles. Carl want to run, usually southward along the shore, but now often straight east... into the waves. I am not the kind of mother who is comfortable with that much distance between me and the kids, so the sand castle sand is too far away from the waves to play in. Can't do that alone. Our Children's Museum actually has 4 floors. I have 2 kids with different interests. Can't do that alone and keep them both in my sight. And, before you say it, no, trying to explain to them that they have to stay with their sibling and play and take turns doesn't work at The Children's Museum. There are way too many enticing things to do they can't sit still in one place if they know they could be somewhere else. For that, remember when your kids were 3 or 4 years old and picture keeping 2 of those happy all the time. I don't have that much energy. Throw in Carl's stubborn mix of Lew & Big Ken and you can imagine how that plays out when I try to keep him occupied where he is not interested. And, it seems, the more you shhhhhush him, the louder he gets. Last Thursday, we were checking out some books at the public library and Carl was happily showing his book to the librarian. He was reading her the title. If You Take Mouse To The Movies. (He can read these books, a couple words catch him up, but he'll ask, "What's that say?" and then move right on.) And, the whole time he was bouncing up and down showing her his book and asking if he could carry it out himself she was telling him to shhh and to be quiet and trying to tell him the library is a quiet place... blah blah blah. Here stood a 4 year old - NOT being overly loud - with an obvious love of books but that fact went right over her head. Of course, trying to look like a good mother, I also tried to tell him to keep his voice softer, but what I should have said was, "Lady, we have spent a lot of effort and good money to get him to talk this much. Now, appreciate it!" You'd think they could lighten up on the pin drop quiet rule for the 40 seconds it took me to check out. Must be some pretty uptight patrons in there. They could solve it by putting a check out in the Children's Room, I suppose.
Anyway, all that to say... this season, I can take them swimming alone! Between life guards and swim vests we are good to go! And, in the pool, they are happy to stay in the same place - we split our time between the deep end in vests and the shallow end without them on. Carl is underwater more than above. And, when he goes beneath the surface, he can swim forward. And Gretchen is quickly catching up. She will now put her face underwater! She also is making great progress blowing bubbles out of her nose under water. It won't be long before her confidence builds even more and she's underwater, too!
Well, yesterday we headed to the city pool after nap. They changed their hours this season due to budget cuts in the city. Bummer. Last year we could go for a couple hours before lunch, but now they don't open until noon. So, we arrived at 3:30 knowing they would close at 5:00 for the day. And the place was locked. We had 2 kids in the car, greased up with sunscreen, dressed and ready to swim. Not being able to go was going to be the end of the world. So, we headed farther into downtown to another one we knew of. That one was open. Pheeeewww! It was wicked crowded due to the mid 90s temps out. Carl headed straight for the slide and that's how he got in. In and out, up and down the slide for probably 30 minutes. Then he told me he wanted to go see Gretchen & Daddy in the shallow end. So, we took off his vest to head to them. That's when he decided he really wanted to slide more. So, he wiggled away from me in water that is 9 feet deep to swim to the slide. He has no fear of water, that's for sure. He sank some, but I grabbed him and got him to the ladder. We then spent the next I don't how long with him coming down the slide (head first, feet first, any way he could think of to twist and splash more) into this 9 feet of water without his vest on. He improved his swimming in just the course of the next half hour or so. He would easily come bobbing up after splashing down in. Then, if you let him, he could kick and keep his face above water fairly well. Above all, he had a blast!!!!!!!
Meanwhile, Gretchen was doing her best Grampie impression. She was leisurely floating around on her back and gently kicking her legs to push herself all around the deep end. At one point, I heard her sigh, "Ahhh!"
They just love swimming!
This is a shot from last August. I think it's a fun action shot - and a pretty clear one, too, considering I was treading water while snapping it! The slides at each city pool are the same.
Just picture him sans flotation.
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