"Swimming"

On Saturday I took my two boys to a friend's house for some good kid play, some good adult chit-chat, and a little bit of swimming. We had a great time. Our four year olds immediately went off to play by themselves (hooray!) and the one year olds played "with" each other as much as one year olds do, which pretty much meant they hung out in the same room together. Since it was so hot, we nixed our idea of picnicking in the park and just stayed at the house in the cool AC. After lunch it was time for swimming. This word means different things to different people. Here's what it means to my children:



Note: The child in the pool is not mine. My husband and I are baffled at this. We both love to swim, but it is a major accomplishment to get our oldest to want to partake in this activity. He'd rather...I don't know...fish for other children. Or, go to the dentist, eat broccoli, or get a shot. Okay, that might be stretching it a little bit...

At the defense of my youngest child, it was my fault he was not in the pool. I remembered everything I needed for him -- swim diaper, swimsuit, sunscreen, towel, flotation device -- except his earplugs. Tubes in the ears are a real bummer! He probably would have been in the water for hours had I not destroyed his chance for "swimming". Although you can't tell it in the picture, there was was water in the tether ball tire, so he was still a happy camper.

To my oldest's credit, he did actually GET IN the water after awhile (yep, still fishing). I think it lasted for about three minutes, and the picture shows how much of his body ever got wet. If anyone out there has great advice for how to get a child to love swimming, I'd love to hear it.

I'm already starting to lose sleep over the fact that swimming lessons start next Monday.