THIS. WILL. BE. FUN!!!

I think this blog needs a little levity, so at the urging of my friend Katie Sample, I’m going to share about a memorable day she and I had last week.  Katie and I made plans to go to the pool on Wednesday afternoon.  If you have, or have had children under 2, you will understand when I say that getting prepared to go to the pool is a MAJOR undertaking.  Getting a toddler dressed at all is a little like trying to put an octopus in a loose mesh bag without any of the arms hanging out.  Getting a toddler in a swimsuit with straps that are supposed to criss-cross somewhere (I’ve yet to conclude where, and she’s worn it several times) and a hat is….  more challenging.  Sunscreen is another big issue.  We really had a tussle with the lotion the first time we went to the pool, so I thought I would do better if I was armed with the Coppertone Water Babies spray.  Wrong.  Avery was terrified of the spray.  I ended up chasing her around the kitchen floor, trying to aim the spray at her exposed, moving parts.  Have you ever chased a cockroach with Raid?  Horrified that this image came to mind, I gave up, hauled out the lotion, and used the baby spray for myself.  Then, there was the gear.  Floaties: check;  canopied floating saucer: check; extra sunscreen: check; sippy cup of ice water: check;  towels, cover-ups, sunglasses… the list goes on.  Half an hour later, we were out the door.  We planned to go to a pool in a neighboring community rather than the one down the street, because I had driven past the nearer one and it looked very crowded.  I thought I knew where we were going.  Half an hour later…..  Yes, really.  We did finally find it, and Katie and I both managed to get all our gear together and each carry a baby.  I was sooooo ready to put my big belly and fussy baby in the water.  Some moms of older kids were sitting outside the pool chatting, and I should have known something was up from the looks of pity on their faces as we neared them.  “You know all the pools opens tomorrow, right”  one of them asked.  “They’re only open for the swim team kids today.”  Resourceful, optimistic Katie turned to me and said, “ I have a baby pool at home!  This will be fun!”  She did have a baby pool!  And it was not inflated.  No problem.  Katie had a hand operated air pump.  Half an hour later, with both of us huffing and puffing from having taken turns trying to air the pool, Katie yelled as she slammed the pump handle down, “THIS. WILL. BE. FUN!!!”  We finally resorted (did I mention Katie is resourceful?) to using a hair dryer, and got the pool pretty much blown up.  I’m sure the sunscreen had worn off by then, but it was already about 5:30, so I’m thinking we were OK.  There was only room in the pool for Grant and Avery, but we plopped them in it with some bath toys and settled ourselves  to watch.  They loved it!  Ten minutes later – Grant became fascinated with the grass just outside the pool and emptied most of the water reaching over the edge to pull up blades.  Left without her playmate or much water to splash, Avery became intent on trying to get a stick up her nose.  That seemed like a good cue to start drying off and packing up.  Katie’s prediction was right.  It was fun.  The whole afternoon was actually fun because it was spent in great company and created memories that are still making me, and hopefully you giggle.