My Little Swimmer

This fourth of July weekend, despite being incredibly hot and humid, has also been a lot of fun.  No, I didn't enjoy the excessive heat.  But yes, I did get outside, work on Friday, work around the house Saturday morning, and probably lost about 10 pounds in the process.  The fun I am referring to is the time spent with family, both my side of the family and my wife's yesterday.  Most of all, I enjoyed watching my son run around like a little nutcase, go swimming three of the days, and discover his first hot dog which turned into three in one sitting.  First off, the hot dogs.  (I actually saw a commercial yesterday, what for I don't know, in which one of those skinny, thin, small, dogs jumps through a burning hoop, sizzles, and turns into an edible hot dog on the other side.  I couldn't stop laughing)  Anyway, our son is a picky eater.  He doesn't like any type of beef, pork is OK some of the time, he loves bacon, and chicken is a crap shoot.  Vegetables are slowly growing on him but mostly we have to hide them in other food in order to get him to eat them.  Mostly, though, our concern is with getting him to eat protein.  He loves peanut butter, he did love eggs, but then he didn't, so we have no idea on any given day what exactly he will eat.  Well, on the fourth of July, we found out that he loves hot dogs.  He had tried one earlier in the year and refused to even let it touch his mouth.  So on the fourth we were skeptical as to what would actually happen when we tried giving him a cut up hot dog.  He actually tried it and subsequently couldn't get enough of it.  He went through one hot dog very quickly, progressed to a second hot dog which he downed, and then we had to cook him a third in order to satiate his hunger.  Once the third was done cooking, he polished that one off as well.  Talk about a ravenous 21 month old!  It wasn't just the hot dogs that he was downing, but all of his favorite foods.  The following morning he proceeded to eat three regular sized pancakes.  And then for dinner he had another three hot dogs.  Then there were three hot dogs on Saturday as well.  Throw into the mix a plethora of fruit which he absolutely loves and I think we have a growth spurt coming on.  Perhaps the cutest is his new found love of plums which he just grabs out of the refrigerator and starts eating, the juices covering his shirt, arms, and floor.  Maybe he is turning a new leaf in terms of eating.  We can only hope. 

 

So enough about food and on to swimming.  Last year we got him in my parents pool and he absolutely loved it.  We had a little floating island for him to sit in and that's all he did.  This year we tried putting him in one of those tubes that hang on your shoulders and gets secured through your legs to allow a toddler to float, however, he wanted nothing to do with it.  We tried the floating island with no success either.  He just wanted to be held in the water, so that's what we did.  While he loved being in the water, splashing, and giggling while splashing, I think he had more fun running around the patio surrounding the pool.  Every so often he would want to come back in for a bit, but soon after getting in, he would want to get out and run around again.  The good news is that when we were holding him in the water, he would start kicking his legs, a good sign that he will be a quick study when it actually comes time to learn how to swim.  As much as we would tell him not to run around the pool area, he is only 21 months and has a mind of his own.  So, instead of listening, he ran, and the cement patio took a toll on his knees as he would trip every so often and scrape them.  Almost every time he fell and scraped his knees, however, he would be right back up within seconds running again.  Talk about a resilient little boy.  Then came yesterday and a little kiddy pool at my wife's Aunt's house.  We went up there for an afternoon BBQ with a bunch of her family.  They had a little pool set up with about a foot of water in the bottom of it.  Over the side of the pool there was a little plastic slide that one of our son's cousins was using to slide into the pool.  He saw that and wanted to climb up fully clothed and go in.  Well, that wasn't happening, so we went inside and changed him into his bathing suit.  After that happened, all bets were off; he wanted in that pool.  He climbed right up by himself and for the first few times we helped him down the slide into the water.  A couple of times he went completely under but we were right there to pull him up coughing and spluttering, and he went right back to the slide.  The water didn't phase him at all.  After a few times, he was on his own going down the slide.  He would climb right up, slide down, get out of the pool and repeat.  Needless to say, it was a lot of fun to watch.  If only the pool was a little bigger, I probably would have joined him in the water just to cool off from the heat.

One thing is definitely for certain in regards to swimming; it tires him out completely.  He has been sleeping extremely well after his time swimming and we definitely aren't complaining.  Its not that he was not a good sleeper without the swimming, he just sleeps even longer than before after an afternoon of swimming and running around.  It will definitely be interesting to see what happens when we bring him to the beach in Cape Cod during our family vacation in August.  For now, he will just have to wait and be content with running around like the little lovable nutcase that he is.  In terms of being a little lovable nutcase, my favorite part of every day is when I get home from work.  It doesn't matter where he is, as soon as he sees me, he starts saying, "Dada, dada, dada" and runs over to give me a hug.  I cherish every hug I get from him as I know that one day, about 11 years down the road when he becomes a teenager, he will probably run the other way when I try to give him a hug.  So these early years will be my favorite I am sure.  They already are.  Just watching him explore, figure out exactly what he is capable of, and learn how to use different objects is amazing.  Even now, I let him figure out most things on his own unless he brings them to me at which point I will show him how to use something.  This past Saturday morning we went outside nice and early.  I had some weeding to do around the yard and he had some playing to do with various objects lying around.  Once outside, we went our separate ways in the backyard.  Wherever he went, I made sure I was weeding in such a place where I could keep my eye on him.  Every so often I would glance over to make sure he was OK and not about to injure himself, and 99% of the time, he was completely self absorbed.  A few times he came over to me, sat in my lap, and just leaned back.  I kept on weeding, talking to him, and after a few minutes he would get up and go back to whatever he was involved in.  I absolutely love it.  Perhaps my favorite part of that morning was when I glanced over to see him carrying a piece of fire wood half the size of him in both hands.  He was coming over with the wood to obviously give me a present or have me do something with it.  Not sure of his intention, I thanked him for the wood and told him I was going to put it on the wood pile.  He nodded his head yes, so that's what I did.  I just love the fact that he is independent yet also enjoys just cuddling from time to time.  To me, its the best of both worlds.