First up: joining a gym. Now that it's 8768374 degrees outside at 8:30 am, running inside on a treadmill is an absolute necessity. Seeing as I have never once set foot inside a gym, I left Bill in charge of selecting one for us to join. As we were discussing the facility he'd chosen I realized we were having one of those 'you know you've become parents when....' moments: you know you've become parents when you choose a gym based on not which one has the newest equipment or the most flexible hours, but instead which one has the nicest daycare. So we signed up for a family membership and now Petunia will be lifting baby barbells and tightening those chunky thighs in no time. Just kidding. The family membership lets us all enjoy the indoor and outdoor pools.
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| When you've got a bod like this, might as well flaunt it! |
Next up: swim lessons so Caroline can actually make good use of her gym membership! That, and we're going to Gulf Shores next month and staying at a condo with an enormous pool so I wanted to be sure she had some sort of aquatic survival skills in place. So far she's only had 4 lessons, due to the teacher's canceling class for a week due to family illness. As much as I was hoping she would just hop in the water and start backstroking, it has been a bit of an adjustment for her. AKA, she cries. Every time. I can't blame her though, I know learning to swim is scary at any age. But she is doing very well at mastering her tasks thus far (going underwater, holding her breath, reaching for the side of the pool and pulling herself up, etc.) Here's a video from day 2 of lessons- learning to float!
Since she's not terribly fond of her swim lesson routine yet, I wanted to make sure she still has enjoyable experiences with water. We found a great little splash pad not far from our house at a neighborhood park and we've been making regular afternoon visits. She loves running through the fountains, splashing, and attempting to catch the streams of water in her mouth. (Somehow choking on a mouthful of water from a jet is more enjoyable than choking on a mouthful in a pool, I guess.)
She also had her very first swim date/dinner date last weekend when we went to visit our friends Andy and Jackie and their sons. Bill and the guys set up daddy pool patrol around the kiddie pool, complete with lounge chairs and beers in hand. They were the quintessential picture of suburban manhood.
After working up an appetite in the pool she and her dinner dates enjoyed dining al fresco on chicken nuggets and tater tots. The best part of the meal, other than seeing 3 toddlers eating together like civilized little people, was the fact that she practically cleaned her plate! She has been eating solid foods well and I think the new medicine has been helping. (She's still waking up crying at night though so we're working on tweaking the dosage.)
Another great pastime that we've discovered this summer in the ingenious indoor playground. Why doesn't Houston have these on every block?? Think McDonald's indoor playplace, times 10 in scale. Bounce house, giant inflatable slide, ball pit, train ride, oodles of toys for babies, and a climbing sliding labyrinth that would make a hamster proud.
Her favorite attraction was definitely the ball pit. Swimming in the balls, throwing the balls out of the pit, picking up the balls one by one and putting them back in the pit. I'd be happy to shell out $10 just to spend an entire afternoon doing this.
She was sorely tempted by the giant inflatable slide though, and kept walking slowly past it considering whether she was up to the challenge. Knowing that I would have to ride with her and being not particularly interested in sliding down germ-covered rubber that smelled like sweaty feet, I repeatedly tried to distract her with other items. It was a hard sell. She kept wandering back over to the dragon.
Dragon, shmagon. Check out this fun train! This is fun, right? Choo choo! She humored me for one brief trip around the tracks and promptly hopped out to ogle the giant inflatable bounce thing. She even tried to weasel her way through the gate but I swooped in and re-directed her back to the infant play area.
So between gym sessions, swim lessons, the zoo, the children's museum, the indoor playground, and the splash pad I think we have our entire summer accounted for. T minus 84 days until fall....
P.S. A little Winnie lagniappe. I was so proud of myself when I spotted a nice mesh harness on sale at target for 75% off! But it later occurred to me....I now own a male pug, named Winnie, who wears a pink harness. Poor dog is gonna have a gender identity crisis soon.
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