Pseudo Weekend

Josh's work schedule means we don't have a lot of weekends together, but it also means we pretend it's the weekend when really it's Tuesday.

Yesterday I came home from work and managed not to fall asleep on the sofa before the kids got to me. Little Big John ran up to me already in his swimsuit and told me "I really really REALLY wanna go swimmin today? kay mom? Now you home, we can go swimmin!"

Josh was standing right behind him nodding and smiling and hoping I'd agree.

So we all got dressed and headed to the pool.

Here's the thing about the pool. I love it. I really really love it. I love swimming, I love the smell of chlorine (gross! I know!) I love the cold of the water, I love floating, I love lazy rivers, and I love watching my babies defy gravity in a safe place. I love the quiet when you stick your head under and hear nothing but splashing. I love it all.

So I batted my eyes and looked at Josh with my very best bribe-face and asked if I could swim some laps while he played with the boys in the kid place and then I'd come and join them. He lovingly agreed and I had the most peaceful 30 minutes of my day.

I love yoga because you focus on your breath.
I love swimming because there's nothing to do but breath. The slow steady strokes when you aren't racing are comfortable and soothing.

After getting my fill of laps, I joined the boys for sliding and lazy rivering and jumping and splashing and kid swimming. Which by the way is significantly less soothing than adult swimming.

As we left the pool and headed for home I realized that making dinner sounded hard, and we stopped to grab Cafe Rio on our way home. We rarely eat there (because holy $ for a salad!) but when we do it creates a special occasion. The boys were sufficiently exhausted from all the swimming and partying and happiness and joy, so after their bedtime, Josh and I played a rousing round of Phase 10. I lost pitifully.

And we were all in bed at a reasonable hour.

So, sometimes, Tuesday is the winning day of the week. Watch out Saturday, there's a new kid in town.

Like Father Like Son

The man that Josh grew up with is not his biological father. And although I am well aware of that fact I swear he somehow inherited some DNA from Frank. (Osmosis yes?) The two are so much alike you'd never know they don't share genes.

I love to see little (and big) boys act just like their father's. It makes me happy.

And when the little boys I love more than any others are acting like the great big man I love more than any other, I get so happy I giggle.

In case you can't tell, they are standing in exactly the same "hands behind the back catching the water" position. And they both stood there far longer than is socially acceptable. And they both loved every second of it.

These boys of mine......

Summertime!

While I am clearly a winter-lover, I have to say there are somethings I really really love about summertime.

Primarily swimming and camping.

We haven't made it camping yet (on June 4th? How can that be?!) but the neighborhood pool has been open for nearly 2 weeks now, so we've certainly spent some time over there.

The first time I got both boys ready for the pool, Tommy was thrilled to teach Johnny about "swimpin' diapers" and "floaties!" and "looooook Johnny, is WATER!!!!"

I might be a little biased, but I think these might be the most handsome boys ever.

They don't look it, but they are seriously happy to be swimmin. I swear.

Tommy might love being allowed to shower as long as he wants as much as he loves swimming. By "as long as he wants" I mean no more than 15 minutes. I know, awfully conservative of me isn't it? The good news is it gives me a chance to get Johnny out of his soggy clothes and warming up before wrestling Tommy into his dry clothes.

I'm consistently amazed at Tommy's memory, but I was flat out shocked when he sat in the lounge chair wrapped up in a towel and asked for a sucker. The dum dum was the standard "getting dry by the pool snack" of last year and Tommy fully expects it to be the same this year. Something I neglected to prepare for while getting us ready. 

Fortunately for me 2 years olds are extraordinarily forgiving. 

Sunscreen

One thing Tommy loves about swimming is the putting on of the sunscreen.

He especially loves it when I let him help rub it in.

He especially doesn't love it when I try to help him with the parts he missed.

Bonk!

Were you wondering what happened to my adorable child's face? 

Me too.

So I asked Josh.

They were at the pool, and since Tommy can't read the "no running" signs he was running toward Josh across the pavement. Which would be awesome if his face weren't so much faster than his feet. But it is.

He biffed it.

Bad.

But it's OK. Because my kid still has the uncanny ability to heal faster than Wolverine. It's lookin' good today....maybe this week at church people won't threaten to report us to the authorities.

An Affair To Remember

Remember back when you were in Elementary School? ....Jr. High? ..... High School? College?

Remember when you fell in love with someone and practiced writing your name with their last name all over your notebook? Because it was fun. And you wanted to see what it would look like at the bottom of your checks from your joint bank account? Whoa, flashback! Remember checks? 


It's been a while since I did that now that I'm all married and stuff, but yesterday we got a piece of mail that made me fall in school-girl-love all over again. With a very unlikely candidate.

The HOA.

I'm not even lying. I am not generally a HOA lover. In fact often I'm downright annoyed by the HOA and in the interest of full disclosure I think I'll never live in an HOA controlled area again.

But this. This extension of the pool season has me all sorts of whooped again.

Daddy & Tommy have a routine when Daddy comes home from work.

Tommy hears the door open downstairs and his makes his fake-surprised face with his lips all O-shaped while he gasps and I say "who could it be?" Then he gets down on his hands and knees and crawls over to the top of the stairs to peek around the corner.

Daddy thumps and bumps and drops his shoes and keys and other noisy things, then starts to stomp up the stairs while Tommy waits anxiously to see if it really is Daddy coming up here. It always is.


Daddy crawls up the last few stairs so he's already on his hands and knees when he reaches Tommy and says "Hi my fam-i-leeeee!!!!" and Tommy gives him hugs and kisses. By now my heart is mush and I've breathed my sigh of relief signifying that we might survive the rest of the night now that Daddy is home.

After a bit of post-work wrestling Tommy drags Daddy to his bathroom to find his "simma-suit up high!!!" (because we store his swimsuit draped over the shower curtain rod where it dries) and begins to demand that they go to the "poo! poo! poooooool!!!!!!"

The boys swim for a couple of hours and come home water-logged, exhausted and hungry. Tommy walks straight to the bathroom to splash in the tub for a second before jammies, dinner and bed. He initiates all of these activities, pointing to the next step in the process and dragging the adults around by their pointer fingers.

This is why I knew my life would be over after Labor Day when the pool closed and Josh entered full-blown over-worked, under-paid, exhausted, unavailable student/bread-winner mode.

This is why the pool staying open through the month of September gives me a new kind of hope that I simply can't explain.

Maybe my life isn't over.

Besides, Amy Lavina HOA doesn't sound so bad. Does it?