The view from here

This was the view from my back yard today. This was actually the worst view of the day, believe it or not. The sky cleared up and it was a brilliant clear blue all afternoon. I do like the pattern of the clouds though.

I’m not quite happy-shiny today, but I do have a better outlook on things compared to yesterday.

For starters, Pebble kicked arse at swimming. To give some background we’ve endured about four weeks of clingy, “NO”, “I’ll do it myself, my way” swimming lessons, with refusal to put her head under when she used to swim three seconds under water. It hasn’t really been a biggie, we’re there for fun and to learn a bit about water safety. The instructor doesn’t push it, and neither do I. We adapt and go with the flow and it’s all good.

However. TODAY Pebble was a star swimmer and she was loving it. Well, she always loves it, but today she seemed really proud of herself and her clever swimming skills. She was under, she was kicking, she was floating, she was diving, she was running and jumping in, she was blowing real bubbles for the first time and she was happy, happy, happy.

The arvo flew by, we had an appointment for our car which meant I had to leave it in the shop for about an hour. An hour at the nearby park felt like a really looooong prospect. The park is great, it’s fun, she loves it, but it’s just so DONE. Instead, we trundled to the library, we hadn’t been there for ages. She climbed on the mini-train, played with the bead puzzle, refused to read any books (of course) and we borrowed some new books for home.

Then we went to the park, and I was surprised to bump into two people that I kind of know and I had a chat with them while Pebble went wild on the equipment. She’s getting to the age where she can do everything herself if there is the right kind of equipment. In fact, she MUST do everything herself. I was told to “way, way” and she shooed me. Like a pesky fly. Lovely.

Three days of work ahead of me, I’m actually looking forward to it. A few days of teaching will well and truly knock the MEH out of me! Not looking forward to the child care drop offs, but that’s another story.

Splash!

Pebble has recently started baby swimming lessons, which I’ve been planning to do alllll year and finally got around to. She’s at a great age for it now, and the weather is getting warmer (kind of!) so it’s easier to get in and out of the water.

I must say, this swimming business takes a bit of strategic planning. How does one organise oneself as well as a wet, wriggly, baby? The first week was a little nerve wracking, but I’m getting the hang of it now. Here are my tips for keeping mum and bub organised for baby swimming lessons (especially if you’re on your own!):

1. Mum, wear your bathers to the pool, you won’t have time or spare hands to change once you’re there.

2. Mum, WEAR A T-SHIRT OVER YOUR BATHERS! Babies like to cling and pull at things, especially anything on their mum’s bodies, including bather straps. Yeah, that’s me in the pic in week one, attempting to wear my halter top bathers. It was awesome that so many dad’s brought their video cameras that week.

3. Change your baby into their swimmer nappy and bathers at the pool – I learned the hard way that swimmer nappies DO NOT hold wee. The wee just comes right on through those suckers.

4. Hopefully your swim centre has loads of change tables in view of the pool, like mine does. Leave your bags next to a changing station with everything ready to go – plastic bag for wet clothes, clean nappy and dry clothes in easy reach.

5. Bring a stroller or pram to park your baby in while you see to yourself once they’re dry and clothed, otherwise you’re juggling a baby who was once dry and is now all wet again from Mum’s bathers.

6. If you have any sense of modesty left after giving birth and having people routinely peering into your lady business, then I suggest you lose it now. I’ve always been one of those change room magicians – using crafty manoeuvres to get myself covered up without anyone seeing any of my skin whatsoever. That’s if I’m not hiding in the shower or toilet cubicle getting dressed. Well guess what? There’s neither room nor time for that business. Strip, baby!

6. If your baby is eating finger food, bring a snack to gum on while you get changed or on the drive home.

Our swimming lesson finishes right on Pebble’s lunch time, so I make sure her lunch (and mine) is all prepped before I leave, so that we can walk in and stuff ourselves silly. Then I give her a warm bath to wash off all the chlorine and, fingers crossed, after some warm milk she’s off top bed. This is when you can chuck the swimming gear in the washing machine and kick back, relax and have a hot cuppa (or run around like a headless chook doing all those jobs that you only get to do when bubs is asleep, which is more likely, unfortunately).

Have you been to baby swimming lessons? Got any tips I can add to the list?