I had a sleeping Lily when we first walked up to the pool. I sprayed sunscreen on Jack (spray-on sunscreen ROCKS MY SOCKS!), then told him he could get in if he wanted. Let's see, holding a sleeping toddler while helping my 4-year-old get into the pool for the first time ever = does not compute. Luckily my son is cautious by nature, and waited for me to figure out what to do with Lily before he really got in. Luckily also, one of the moms saw my predicament and laid a nice, soft, damp towel on the ground in the shade, for me to lay Lily on. Luckily number three, Lily was exhausted, and happily stayed asleep when I laid her down! So I got to go into the water with Jack, and laugh and giggle with him as he discovered how much fun the water was, and Lily still got enough of a nap! Jack had SO MUCH FUN!!! He could only play on the steps, b/c the pool was too deep for him to be able to touch bottom while keeping his face above water. Since he's never been interested in swimming, we don't have any floaties or anything. I should have already bought some, perhaps it would have facilitated his enthusiasm some. Almost every other mom there had floaties for their kids: life vests, arm rings, and/or boats just the right size for toddlers and 4-year-olds. Naturally, all the kids wanted to play with their own toys as soon as they got there, and nobody had any extra, so Jack had to wait before he could get a turn. He tried to be patient but I had to remind him a couple of times! But eventually, one kid got tired of her toy, and Jack jumped into it faster than she could turn around. It had holes in the bottom for his legs to go through so he could kick himself around in the water, so he discovered that he could propel himself through the water, and he thought that was AWESOME! We chased each other, played follow-the-leader, and I had fun swimming underneath him and coming up on his other side. I glanced over at Lily probably every 15 seconds or so, and I saw her squirming before she really woke up, so I got to pick her up and hold her before she realized I wasn't there :D She was a little disoriented, and needed to nurse, but once she had her belly full and her bearings, she was so excited to be at a pool playdate! By now another kid had abandoned his boat, so I put her in it, and she had fun splashing. She got her face and head almost completely soaked, just by splashing. Jack loved towing her and being towed by her and me :D Eventually Lily wanted out of the boat, and Jack too; Jack hung out on the steps, but Lily wanted to swim! I held her out in the water and she kept pushing my hands off of her, "Let me go! Let me go!" I let go for a split second so she could see she would sink if I did, but I grabbed her before her face went under, so it didn't make much of an impression on her :P I tried holding her out from me so she wouldn't feel smothered, and she liked that a lot!
How sad that we would discover the bliss of the pool, at the END of the summer :( Next summer we are SO doing swimming lessons!
When we got home, Jack was asleep, so I laid him in the bed and put a fan on him to keep him cool. I was a little worried that he'd be cold, since he was still in his damp swim clothes, but the heat in our house dried him off and he was sweaty by the time he woke up. Lily played happily while Jack napped; I was so tired and annoyed with the heat, so I played with her a little and knitted. After Jack woke, he asked me if we're supposed to play a game every day (I've told him we have to read every day and we have to go outside every day, b/c those are important things). I said yes, we should play a game every day, and he was so excited! So we got out a game and played :D Lily was sad she couldn't join in, but she was easily appeased, and Jack did really well with following the rules, and he had fun. After we played the game through, I let him play with the pieces freestyle, and he stacked them into a high tower. Lily wanted to "help", and Jack said he'd like her to not knock it down yet, so I carried her off while he finished. When he was done, he said "Lily can knock it down now!" How sweet :D So Lily knocked it down, and they had a blast playing together, and we all picked it up together.
Lily was exhausted, so I laid her down for a late nap. She didn't sleep well b/c of the heat, even with a fan on her. She was grumpy all evening, as was I. We were angry at the silly weather for being so hot (or at least, I was!). At 10pm it was too hot in our house to sleep, so we loaded up the kids in the car and went for an air-conditioned drive. Target and Wal-Mart were both closed, so we didn't get to buy any bigger fans, but when we got home we put the little fan in the window to pull in the cool night air, and the night was bearable. None of us slept as well as usual, but we slept.
And this morning! We loaded up and went to the beach! The same moms we swam with yesterday put together a beach trip. It was a little farther than the ones we've already been to, but it was fun to see yet another new beach. Lily fell asleep on the way, and was happy to wake up on the beach :D This was my first time to go to a beach here and not have to wear long sleeves; the heat wave that's making it so hot here inland is making the beach perfect! Jack did NOT get close to the water; waves are a LOT scarier than a pool, and Tim and I have done a great job of terrifying him of rip tides. But he happily played in the sand with his friends' toys, and we moms happily supplied buckets of water to play with in the sand. I had a blast with the surf breaking over my feet, and getting to hold my friends' 4-year-olds' hands as the surf almost knocked them down :D They would stand on either side of me and clutch my hand and cling to me and just SHAKE and SHIVER with fear and anticipation as we watched the wave come towards us, then it would hit us and they would SCREAM and JUMP and DANCE! Then the water would slip back to the ocean, and the boy would kick at it and yell "Go back!" and the girl would just smile :D I had so much fun with those kids, while my kids happily played with the sand a safe distance away from the water. My friend's friend (mother of the boy) came and "relieved" me, acting like I couldn't possibly be having fun with them, and I said "No, I'm loving it! But I will go play with my own kids now, thanks!"
I had fun chatting with my friend Angela while we played with our kids in the sand. She hates this area and has been trying to move away for the last 8 years, but things just haven't worked out. We have some differences, but I like her anyway. Maybe this move was good for me after all...
We didn't leave til 3pm! Lily was so grumpy! Walking to our car, she insisted on walking. And investigating every single piece of debris that she found on the way (trash, feathers, bits of grass, etc.). And of course Jack was running full-tilt, so I had to keep calling to him to stay closer to me, and picking up my screaming toddler who would then contort and squirm and try to throw herself out of my arms. Fun times! Luckily a passing stranger offered to help me, and I let her carry Lily for me. I would have let her carry my bags, but I thought (correctly) that if she carried Lily, Lily would be so shocked that she would comply with being carried. She whimpered at first, but she didn't try to get away, and by the time we got to the car her eyelids were drooping! I loaded them up in the car and away we went. They both conked right out :D
Went to the Valley Fair Shopping Center in San Jose. It's the closest mall to my house with an indoor playground. It wasn't as good as the Galleria Dallas, but then, none of the other malls in Dallas had playgrounds as good as the Galleria. It was as good as the other Dallas malls :D I was SO TIRED. I could hardly function as anything more than a child-follower. We stayed there til 7pm, just avoiding our hot apartment. Got home, and the heat wave is letting up! There's actually a breeze now! So all our windows are open to let it in, and we're not sweating anymore. Oh thank goodness!
So, to bed with me! I do regret that I didn't take any pictures yesterday or today. But I did have fun!
Here's a funny one from Saturday:
Cute little boy passed out after playing games on Daddy's phone :D
From last Wednesday, when we went to the Junior Museum (I don't know why I didn't put these up then!):
This is the front "yard" of the museum. It's so much fun, they play on it before they go in, then play some more after they leave :D
My handsome little boy!
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