Swimming

We had a big first this weekend; we went swimming! I declared on Friday evening that I wanted to take Clare swimming and hoped Jeff would go with us, I told him I knew Clare would like him to be there. He agreed but only if we went to one of the outdoor pools, so Cook Creek it was.

This morning, after our walk, I packed our bags; towels, swimsuits, swim diapers, camera, shower supplies, sunscreen, hats, and a bottle just in case. We arrived at the pool and immediately had to stop and say hello to one of the managers that saw us walk in; I was hoping by going to this particular pool we would go unnoticed, oh well. We found our spot in the shade and got Clare in her suit, she looked too cute! At this point another person spotted us, so we did the hello routine again, luckily Clare is easy on the eyes and happy to meet just about anyone.

A look at my suit before Mom started protecting me from the sun.

As you’ll see we began to take lots of pictures at this point, wanting to preserve this moment forever – she’ll want these pictures someday when she’s on swim team or heaven forbid a lifeguard.

I also realized I’m ‘that Mom’ fully dressing her kid for the pool. I suppose it’s obvious I’m the fair skinned Mom that wants to protect her fair skinned child.

She seemed to like the water, she didn’t scream or cry at all. There were a lot of people to watch and a lot to take in, the water was warm and we kept moving. In total we were in the water for about 20 minutes before calling it quits. The family locker rooms were another first, a real family experience as Jeff said.

Dad says next summer I can go down the big slide!

Back Float

I’m glad she liked the water; hopefully she’ll join me in the parent-tot swim lessons I have to teach this fall and learn to love the water like I do. Some of my favorite summer memories are of walking to Devon pool with my Dad, brother and sister after dinner. The sound of our flip-flops, our pool passes safety pinned to our towels, the warm evening sun and the sounds of families having fun. We had a lot of fun; I’d like to create memories like that for Clare.

I will say that it felt a little surreal today, having my own child in the pool. For the past 15 years I've watched families enjoying the water together, parents teaching their kids to swim, siblings playing games and kids having a good time. Today was the first time where I wasn't the background character in that scene, it was my family in the pool, my child having a good time, I was the one making memories. I like this role much better, I could get used to this.