If It's Summer It Must Be Swimming
In the early days with an infant and a preschooler, the thought of going to a pool on a daily basis seemed fraught with danger. How would I manage the infant while wrangling the nonswimming preschooler. What would I do if the preschooler wanted to swim, but the baby needed a diaper change right this instant. A trip to the pool even with two parents was blessedly short. I remember a time when I entered a pool with towels, a diaper bag, a mesh bag of pool toys, two inflatable toys, and a noodle. So many items were in the stroller that the baby had to be carried.
Ten years ago "summer" meant holding an infant while my 3-year-old splashed in the kiddie pool in our backyard. An occasional day trip to Playwise Kids in Columbia, MD or the National Aquarium in Baltimore rounded out our summer weeks. Now my definition of any season is based around sports. If it's summer it must be swimming.
When my oldest was 7, a spot opened up at our local pool. By then I had one swimmer, one almost-but-not-quite swimmer, and an infant. My rapid ascent to the top of the lengthy waiting list made the prospect of joining the pool look attractive. The bond (a one-time payment) and the monthly membership fees were high, but I was starting to worry about spending all day home alone with an infant, a 4-year-old, and a 7-year-old. A pool membership would give us something to do each day I reasoned. After protracted and painstaking negotiations with my husband over the bond and membership fees, a deal was struck: we would try the pool for a summer. The bond could be sold to another member for the next year, so all we would be out was the monthly membership fees. Our summer routine became: get up, play at home, nap/quiet time, and go to the pool. My oldest quickly became a fish in the water. The 4-year-old needed a couple of sessions of lessons before she shed her swim vest. Even my I-don't-want-to-join-a-pool husband looked forward to his after work swim. The pool was loved by all except the infant. I minimized the time I took the baby to the pool during the day. With his car seat and stroller, he was protected from the sun by two hoods, but I worried about sun exposure since he was so young. Late afternoon trips to the pool were much better for him. He loved watching his sisters splash about in the pool. This summer I have a kid, a preteen, and a teen on the swim team at the same pool. The pool is the focus of our summer activities from swim team practices to meets to social activities at the pool. Summer would not be summer without swimming. Jill Berry has finally graduated from the baby pool to a loungechair in the big pool area. When not reading a novel at the pool, she blogs at Musings. This is an original DC Metro Moms Blog post.
