Swimming with Katie

Jack had stomach flu this morning -- this blog is my way of communicating the news to my parents and sister, who spent last weekend with Jack, so, er, sorry -- so Emily stayed home with him and I took Kate to her swimming class. I used to take Jack all the time when he was around 2, but Emily normally takes Kate.

The locker room was fun. She stared at other people. How do you tell a 17-month old not to stare? I don't think the word has any meaning for her. I just tried to get us both changed and out of there as quickly as possible.

We headed into the pool. It was a little on the chilly side so she clung to me. Warmer in the water, so I tried keeping her mostly in it. There were a lot of deals where she was supposed to sit on the side of the pool and jump into my arms (Humpty jumps); I tended to put her up at the last moment and then she jumped right in. She liked that little jump a lot. She splashed a little, and was much better at kicking than paddling. (Even on the rare occasions when one of her thumbs wasn't in her mouth.) Most of the time, she clung to me. Definitely didn't like floating on her back, or having her arms anywhere but around my neck. Which was kind of nice.

It was essentially the same class I did with Jack two years ago. Paddle, paddle, paddle. "Motorboat, motorboat, oh so slow...motorboat, motorboat, oh so fast...." Humpty jumps. And the kick board, which I think she liked, again because she only had to work with her feet. Today, she wasn't much into putting her face in the water, although she did blow bubbles once. She also helped me when I put my face in the water to play peek-a-boo and almost swallowed half the pool, hauling me out and .... OK, not really.

At the end of the class we hoofed it over to our towels, her arms wrapped around my neck and her legs kind of clinging, monkey-like, to my side. It was sweet and reminded me that I need to do stuff with just her more often. I probably take her and our relationship for granted a little too much; something I'm also reminded of on those occasions when frankly she wants nothing to do with being handed from Mommy to Daddy; I'll stay right here in Mommy's arms, thank you very much. So yeah, I'll go swimming with Katie again sometime.