tales from the pool

This week the weather has finally been conducive to daily swimming. With Greyson in camp all morning, we've mostly been swimming in the afternoon, post-naptime.

The kids tend to be impatient with the prep work - rolling up the solar cover, skimming the dead bugs and pine needles off the top, applying the sunscreen. (They're no happier at the end of the session with the clean-up - unrolling the solar cover, picking up the pool toys and putting them away, laying their swimsuits and towels out on the deck rail.) Yesterday, there was an extra delay, as they had to wait while I chased a frog around the pool with the skimming wand, trying to get it out and set it free. Later in the afternoon there was a second frog in the skimming drain, and then when we were getting ready to get out I found the second frog back in the pool - Doofus, I call him. There's a nice swamp not far away where I'm sure they'd be happier!

But in between the chores comes the swimming. Veronica alternates between her little floaty boat, floating around and chewing on the plastic squirt guns, and swimming with bubble and noodle. She looks like a ballerina, dancing around the pool. And is surprisingly fast ... and unsurprisingly fearless.

Charles likes the big black doughnut floaty thing. He likes to hang on the side of it and paddle around. But he also in the last couple of weeks has started pushing himself to swim farther - he loves to swim down to the end and hang on the bottom of the diving board. He still uses (and needs) his bubble, but he's gotten a lot better about getting his face wet and a lot less fearful. He's also trying hard to learn how to float, and doing fairly well.

Greyson has discovered the joys of swimming. Bubble-free now, he spends all his time either jumping in or going underwater. He doesn't feel ready for swimming beyond where his feet can touch, but I think once he decides to do it he'll be able to do well.

Personally, I find the responsibility of being the only adult in the pool with the three of them is a lot when we swim on a daily basis. My attempts to add more people to our swim sessions have fallen flat (at least this week), and by Friday I was pretty tired of the whole thing. (It didn't help that Friday was also the day of the frogs.)

But now we're at the weekend, and next week the in-laws will be with us, or we'll be traveling. I'll have to take the swimsuits, though, as the boys are already excited about swimming in hotel pools!