Life gets busy. I should know. There are more and more things pulling me in different directions. My wife is in night school 3 nights a week, not to mention the addition of homework to the mix.
I'd said quite a while ago that I would post my thoughts about swimming lessons. My daughter has been doing swimming lessons since she was about 6 months old. I often wondered to myself what she got out of the classes at that age. (I still wonder actually.)
I mean, I'm a competent paddler and my wife was a lifeguard. Surely we didn't need to be lead around the pool singing "The Grand Old Duke of York" by a teenager did we? I knew how to put a life jacket on my daughter, I knew how to dunk her under the water.
My thoughts changed as she grew older. We registered her in Preschool A low ratio. It had been a while since we had been in the pool with her and guessed (correctly) that fewer kids would give her more teacher attention and hence more confidence. She did great, in fact, the instructor she had recommended she be moved up to Preschool B in the next session. He did make one observation regarding her height though. She couldn't touch the bottom and keep her head above water, and that may be restrictive in the Preschool B classes.
We registered her again in the pre-Christmas Preschool A, if only to keep up her familiarity with the water. In 2 weeks she had completely stopped doing all the great things she had done in the session before. You see, there were 2 instructors, or rather, one instructor and one instructor-in-training. With only 2 students in the class, it left my daughter someone to cling to. And cling she did. To the female instructor-in-training.
By the end of week 2 I'd gone to talk to the instructor supervisors. On week 3 the male instructor took over working with my daughter. She wasn't overly fond of him, I'm not sure what it was exactly, but a shave and haircut would have gone a long way in making him look presentable. On week 4, she refused to go into the water, and when presented with the choice of going swimming, or going to bed right away, she chose bed.
We've since had her in the pool ourselves, and she happily paddled around the pool for 45 minutes without a break. She'll even jump into the water on her own. I now know that it wasn't a fear of water, but a complete and utter lack of trust in the instructors.
We've started taking her swimming on our own at the public swim every Sunday. She gets one-on-one lessons at becoming familiar with the water, and it's cheaper than paying for swimming lessons. Or for paying for her to go to bed earlier...
My wife starts night school tonight from 6:00 till 9:00pm. Normally that isn't a problem, but the Turtle doesn't take a bottle, and he tends to cluster feed in the evening.
5:12 pm: My wife just left after the Turtle refused to eat. That'll be fun in about an hour. The Toad just finished her apple and is off to play.
5:27 pm: So far, so good. The Toad is coloring, and the Turtle is playing on his playmat. Not sure if I really expected things to go badly this early, but so far things are looking up.
5:47 pm: First spit-up from the Turtle. Every bit that comes up now is some that he doesn't have to nourish him later. The Toad is running around shouting "Mazel Tov".
6:09 pm: Diaper change for the Turtle, the Toad is doing a puzzle.
6:29 pm: Toad in the bath, Turtle and I are 'roaming' the halls.
6:43 pm: Just spent 10 minutes with the Turtle staring in the mirror. I suspect he's trying to amuse me.
7:02 pm: Putting on a movie while walking in very small circles.
8:39 pm: Just put the Turtle to bed. He fell asleep in my arms. Looks like I won the fight. (Tonight.)
So, today marked a busy, busy Sunday. All those things that I usually expect to be spread over a week happened today.
I started the day enthusiastically doing vacuuming. Not one of my favorite tasks, but my wife insists that it needs to get done.
After that was Gymnastics, not for my, for the Toad, but for me it's a great time to chat with some good friends. Arriving home, we pull in the driveway to see some of the neighborhood kids playing on the big snow hill in our court. Inside we race, put on our snowsuit for a rollicking good time climbing and sliding.
Back inside for lunch and a nap (again for the Toad, not me). The doorbell rings, it's the same kids we were playing with earlier (their parents actually) heading down to the local outdoor city rink, and wondering if we wanted to come. Up early from nap, get dressed, and out the door to go skating.
We lasted about 25 minutes or so, then made our way back home. The Toad did pretty good if you ask me. I think it was her second time out (in 2 years) and she only fell a handful of times.
When we got home, we only made it to the front door when the Toad decided that she wanted to go snowshoeing. (We got snowshoes for Christmas.) We played in the backyard in our snowshoes, then into the front yard. We finally made it inside, had some hot chocolate and a cookie, then played for a while before dinner.
After dinner, my wife and the Toad went to Public Swimming at the pool, and had a great time (more tomorrow about my experiences with Ottawa's Swimming Lessons). The Turtle and I got gas, ran a few errands and returned to see the end of public swim.
The day was full, but I feel relaxed now as I write this. I expected to be able to spread everything out over the course of this week, but maybe it's better to have done it all today. That means we may be able to do some of it again later in the week.
I paddle canoes, I make computers run, I help businesses refine their internal processes through software innovation. I'm a husband, a father and a bit goofy. I like to see what makes people tick, I love seeing people work together for a common cause, and I hate it when my hard work is for naught.
