Today is ending on a bad note. Seems to always go steadily downhill after nap time. I’m tired by this point in the day and my patience is waning. So, it is good to reflect now on the good part of the day–this morning.
This morning, I took E. to a preschool swim at a pool here in Ottawa. It was more of a baby swim as E. was the oldest by at least 2 years! We were surrounded by infants! Oh well. I had a great time anyways. E., on the other hand, definitely did not. He clung to me the entire time saying, “home, home, home”. I wasn’t surprised by his reaction. This summer, we only took him swimming once maybe twice to our local wading pool. Even then, he wasn’t really into it. I would have liked to take him more often but carting a 2 year old and an infant into and out of a pool seemed like a HUGE deal to me. I just didn’t think I could manage it. Now seeing how E. reacted to the water, I’m glad I didn’t attempt this on my own (Baba came along and sat with Q.). I would have had to hold both boys in my arms the entire time. Not fun!
I have always loved the water. It’s probably one of the few things that I can do well–although my sister is a much better swimmer than I. I’m horrible at physics, team sports and cooking large pieces of meat (I make beef jerky out of them!). I do however, excel at swimming…and I love every second of it.
When I found out I was having a boy one of my first reactions was, “oh, no…sports”. Of course, I was grateful for having my boys but with boys comes boy’s stuff. I don’t really “get” boy’s stuff. I just always thought I would have girls. I’m such a girly-girl. I understand girls because I am a girl and I don’t really understand anything about hockey, football or baseball–nor do I ever want to. I suck at any kind of organized, team sports. I thought to myself, “what the heck am I going to do with this boy I’m having?” Today, however, I had an EPIPHANY. I can swim with my boys! I will still go to their team sport practices and cheer them on. I will probably (at some point) really enjoy this. While waiting for that enjoyment of team sports to commence, I can take my kiddos to the pool.
This morning, when I had E. in the water, it all came back to me–I used to teach swimming lessons as a teenager. I started going through all the skills I used to do with my little yellow and orange level swimmers (it’s amazing what I can remember from 20 years ago). E. didn’t want to do anything with me but I felt encouraged that this would be an activity that I could do with him and his brother for years to come.
Thank goodness for swimming!
