I have Silas doing a little mini swim camp (that's what they call it), it's four weeks, two times a week. We loved the Saturday morning gig, but only going once a week he wasn't really making a ton a progress and if we had to miss for whatever reason that is a whole two weeks not in a pool.
So, this little mini swim camp lands me at the pool with both kids alone at 4:45pm Tuesdays and Thursdays.
I get to sit with Veda on the bench and watch Silas. No matter how prepared I come (food, toys, books) she decides she wants to run around the pool. Like the worst place to run. Slippery, other parents with judgemental glares, and a potential dive into the pool. She takes off and thankfully I have cat-like reflexes because I have managed to snag her about five steps into her run....by the arm as she goes boneless.
After swimming Silas wants to shower, and so does Veda. The showers are in the pool area so all of the (judgemntal) parents are watching as I try to coral my 2yr old..it's tricky because she needs to stay by me, but not get in the shower....and soap down my 3 year old.
Going from the pool to the changing room is also fun. I have one poky drenched kid wrapped in a towel and one adventurous kid who is willing to sprint through any open door. I am dragging one and holding back the other. Same goes for our walk to the parking lot. Veda bolts to the doors and weasles her way through people to get outside as Silas is counting the tiles and not stepping on cracks.
If you haven't been to Foss Swim School in Woodbury you probably don't know how small it is. The pool is regular size, but the transition areas are about as big as my left palm. Not kidding. You walk in and there are three dressing rooms (basically bathroom stalls without the toilet), a few cubbies and then a small hall that leads to locker room and if I laid on the floor I could touch all changing rooms and the cubbies. It's always a mass of people, kids and swim bags in that transition area.
On Tuesday I had to wake up Silas from his nap to go to swimming. I wasn't very successful at waking him up. He basically let me get his socks, shoes and coat on with his eyes closed. I carried him in the car and buckled him. And we drove to swimming as he finished his nap.
We get there and he wakes up all disoriented.
We make it in the place and into a dressing room. Silas does not want to swim or get his swimming suit on. I am calmly trying to talk him into swimming (fun teacher, pink goggles, kicking and splashing, doesn't get much better!) he'd lighten up for a second and then decide that, no, he doesn't want to swim. All the while Veda is unlocking the dressing room door and trying to get out. As I am tying to convince/bribe Silas to get his suit on I am shutting and locking the door between every other word.
Silas is in his undies and that's all the farther he'll go. He's crying and everyone can hear him crying and me trying to talk him out of crying and into his swimming suit. I am battling in my head, Do I let him not swim? Do I force him to swim? I am physically able to haul him to the pool screaming and keep my daughter safe? In the midst of it all Veda decides that unlocking the door isn't working so she starts crawling under the dressing room to the next dressing room. I am now grabbing the bottom of her jacket and sliding her back in our dressing room. After about 5 times of this I decided to just go home. I hand Veda the box of raisins and get Silas back in his clothes. Raisins are everywhere on the dressing room floor and we are marching back to the van as I am saying under my breath, Are you freakin kidding me?
We have two and a half weeks left of this. Today Joe is meeting me there to help with Veda. I tired to have Silas nap earlier today, but it was a fail. So it's a no nap day. That means he'll be fine for swimming, but he'll probably fall asleep on the way to his preschool Christmas performance tonight. Awesome! ;)
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