Now that spring has been completely bypassed by summer in these parts, we have started going to the pool. We are lucky enough to live in a community that believes in swimming because there are 5 pools in town. Not bad for a population of 60,000. Especially when I consider where I grew up and there was one pool that we shared with the High School and it wasn't that spectacular. And these pools here have grass and lawn chairs and baby pools and volleyball sand courts and slides. And this is where my problem begins...
Henry has developed a loev of the water, after 5 years of life. Which makes swimming really fun because he doesn't cry when he gets splashed and he is just the right amount of brave. Not so brave that he tries dangerous stuff, but brave enough to follow my instructions.
Calvin on the other hand, loves the water already. A different child thatn last summer. Every time we took him to the pool as a small baby he fell asleep as soon as his feet hit the water. (I still haven't figured that out.) This summer he has enjoyed walking around the shallow end, dunking his head under the water, trying to jump off of the side, but he can't jump so he sort of falls in. If that were all, we would all be enjoying a fabulous time.
Alas, the pool that we have been frequenting has a slide. A big one with twists and turns, not quite Raging Wtaers, but a large step up from your typical pool slide of olde. Henry enjoys going down on my lap and we go a couple of times. Calvin, however, LOVES the slide. As soon as we walk through the gate he starts whining and pointing and then it escalates to screeching and crying. He has so much fun on the way down, but as soon as we hit the water it starts all over againg. he doesn't bask in the glow of the just finished trip, he starts up RIGHT AWAY asking for another round.
If I had just one child I might indulge this wee lad, but Henry is over playing with my friend and her kids and I can't exactly leave him stranded. So the battle goes on.
15 comments:
hahahaha. I love that he fell asleep when he got in the water.
I'm not envious of the slide dilemma. That's good that Henry's so good in the water, though. I bet his swim teachers love him.
P.S. I'm totally laughing about the poshness of your pool compared to the ghettoness of those in Monrovia and Duarte. Our pool in Cottonwood is also fab--complete with a big old twisty slide, a kids' playplace with fountains, separate freeswim and lap pools, a diving tank with high dives and low dives and 3 levels of diving platforms, a snack bar, grass aplenty for any and all to lounge on . . . and I think of my days lifeguarding in Duarte, where NO ONE without a swimming suit is allowed anywhere near the pool, NO ONE is allowed to hang up their towels on the fence, and parents have to watch their kids' swimming lessons from behind iron bars, on a grassy knoll OUTSIDE of the pool property, which is a stone's throw away from Huntington Drive.
Oh yeah, and about 50% of the patrons sport swimwear consisting of white tank tops and cotton undies.
Then again, it costs a pretty penny ($5.00) to get in for a day of fun at the Cottonwood pool, and last I heard, Duarte charged 50 cents.
hilarious, phoebe. i love how #2 is such a daredevil. givin' you a run for your moolah!
Oh, to have such a problem!! (Although I would get tired of going down the slide myself.)
Things could be a lot worse!! (you could have 8 kids!!)
our town bites on the public pool front -
maybe you should get a nanny Phoebe - j/k
I can relate. I have similar dilemmas with my children. It extends to roller coasters, parks, riding bikes, skates and anything else that needs some supervision from me. One day they will be old enough to do it alone. By then, I'll need the constant supervision.
I love that slide. It is so fun! But you can't really take two kids down at once now, can you? I haven't braved a pool with two kids on my own yet. Your problem does make for a little less pleasant pool day. But I can't help but laugh at the images you present. Cute kids, Phoebe.
yeah, multiple kids make everything complicated. :)
Wow, your pool is open already? How fun. I'm not sure about here but in our old town the pool opened after school was out, it did not matter how hot it was. Swimming with more than one small child can be a challenge. At least you don't have one who is a fish and one who refuses to get in the water, that can be crazy making.
Bonny, I think the ocean front makes up for the lack of city pool, along with the fact that most people have their own pools, but a bummer for you that there isn't a cool gathering place for swimming kids.
Oh Eliza, the pools of Utah makes California pools look pathetic.
but we don't have a slide into our ocean.
that would be cool.
Remember the guarding experience with poor Henry at ye olde Helaman Halls last summer? When he got too excited about diving for toys and I almost had to blow my whistle?
I thought he'd be traumatized for life after that.
(I forgot to write that at the end.)
Bonny, a slide into the ocean would definitely be cool. Maybe then I would just HAVE to move there and live in a 1 million daollar trailer park.
Yes, Hannah, Henry seems to have forgotten the near drowning experience of last summer, unfortunately I have not:(
if you're okay with a trailer - we have those for less than a million.
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