Swimming

[naomikritzer]

We went swimming tonight at Dowling. This is a therapeudic pool at a school not far from where I live. It's one of the nicest places I've ever seen for a young child to get accustomed to the water -- the water is warm, and they provide toys for the kids to take into the water and play with. There is a lifeguard/supervisor named Pat who spent twenty-five years teaching little kids to swim; she gives tips and suggestions for getting the kids used to the water. Ed started taking Molly each week when she was about the age Kiera is now. I started going as well, with Kiera, a year ago.

Getting dressed afterwards is always a little bit tricky. Ed takes Molly and gets her dressed, and I take Kiera. This got a lot harder after she became mobile: I have a narrow window of time to get dressed before she will get antsy and want to get down and wander around, and I am always afraid that she'd bolt towards the pool right after I had taken off my bathing suit, and I'd have to go sprinting after her, buck naked. Whee!

Our last swim session was back in December -- about a month ago, maybe a little more. I was struck, tonight, by her willingness to sit relatively patiently as I got dressed. This probably seems like a really trivial milestone from the outside. But she really has grown up, noticeably, just in the last six weeks. Patty, the administrative person who hangs out with Pat during the family swim, commented on how much older she looks than the last time she saw her -- since December, she hit the point of transition from "baby on wheels" to "very small kid." It's a subtle change, but her willingness tonight to sit and wait while I got my clothes on was part of it. (Of course, next week she'll probably bolt, and make me eat my words.)

Comments

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I was at a restaurant last night and watching a mother at the next table who was coping with a little girl who was literally crawling all over the booth. And I smiled at her, not only because the girl was breathtakingly cute (she was) but because I used to have dinners like that, but I don't any more. My girls were sitting beside me like civilized beings, talking about school and karate.

Well, although Fiona did use her fingers to eat her spinach.

[naomikritzer]

Ha. Restaurants with Kiera right now are so. not. worth. it. I remind myself when I get frustrated that Molly was only a little bit older when she started being able to sit through meals and go to restaurants.

[irihs.livejournal.com]

One of my co-workers has a daughter who is also just hitting that big baby / small child transition. It really is magical how one day you see her, and she looks so much older. I think having hair that is finally long enough to put into little pigtails probably helps a lot, too.

[naomikritzer]

Kiera's hair is still just the sparse blonde baby fluff. I remember one day when Molly was about 20 months old, though, she was wearing these cute little flared-leg jeans we'd gotten at a garage sale, and carrying a back pack, and I looked down and thought, she looks like a miniature seven-year-old. That was my "my baby isn't a baby anymore" moment with Molly.

[allochthon.livejournal.com]

I'd have to go sprinting after her, buck naked. Whee!

I'm sure it wouldn't be the first time it's happened!