Tonight we took Pickle to do one of her favourite things.. swim. I think this child is part fish. Her first time in the pool was at the ripe ol’ age of 2 months. I will never forget that experience. That’s when we were still packing her entire nursery for a trip 3 feet outside the front door. We have since become wet wipe forgetters and the parents who give “wing’n it” a whole new meaning. Oh no. We are not slackers. We are just not as scared of all the parenting unknowns as we use to be and have learned that Pickle is much more adaptable then we realized. However, on that first swimming trip, we somehow managed to forget towels… TOWELS! for the lot of us. It was horrible. Canadian winter, swimming and being towel-less just do not mix. My only wish is that we had realized this BEFORE taking the plunge. We managed though. I dried myself off in a bathroom stall with toilet paper, left Pickle with Mr. Burley in the pool so she would stay somewhat warm. I didn’t realize, whilst drying myself with single-ply, that Mr. B and our little fish were in the men’s change room due to a minor melt down on Pickles part. The screams of an infant just echo so beautifully off aquatic centre walls. When I finally got to my little lady, she was done. I wrapped her in my sweater, dried her off and got her bundled in a warm sleeper.
My parenting advice for today.. when taking your newborn swimming, take a towel for the little dumpling, otherwise people will think you’re not a perfect parent or something. It was an adventure to be certain. Now, by some miracle, that experience was not traumatic for Pickle and she still loves the water. She kicks her legs, splashes and laughs the whole time. It’s an awesome family outing. One that I am so thankful we are blessed to be able to do as often as we do.
Happy Parenting 🙂
Kate
Naptime Renovator 