Oliver’s face the entire time: a slight grimace.
But at the end it’s all smiles! Oliver has his cloth diaper back on and is ready to get changed to go home.
My mission this summer is to not let Oliver get sunburned or let him eat anything that he is not supposed to. I have never been more challenged in my life, seriously. I’m pasting on suncream 234, 976 times a day and I’m scurrying around the house making sure my hair clips or loose change aren’t lying around. Now that Oliver is crawling and pulling himself up on things, I’ve moved into a whole new season of busy. It’s wonderful to watch him grow and learn new things.
I am so thankful that we have a lovely pool to go to this summer and Ollie is a great age to enjoy it. Of course the first time I went (by myself) I didn’t have a nice swimming hat for him, the second time we went we forgot all the towels, the third time I forgot my underwear to change in to but hopefully we’ll get it together soon.
I think Ollie likes the pool but it’s so funny because he changes personality as soon as we get there. He’ll be jabbering away in the car, but as soon as he gets to the water he goes completely quiet and just takes it all in. Only yesterday when I put him on the steps to stand did he smile at me. I know he is content because he never cries or complains, but he hardly ever smiles, talks or laughs either. Weird!
It seems like I can only take a picture of him when he is changed and ready to go home, haha.
Making sure I have everything we need takes me ages. I’m telling you, packing and unpacking for the pool takes double the time that we are actually at the pool relaxing, doh! I got some great advice to get Oliver (and us) all changed and suncreamed up before we leave home so we don’t have to negotiate that when we get there. I was worried about him in the swim diaper on the way to the pool but we haven’t had any problems yet so I’m going to keep it up. We dry and reuse the swim diapers for at least a week until they look like they are very ‘tired’ and might not do their job anymore.
We only go to the pool in the early evening because here in Charlotte it is so hot and the sun can do some pretty serious damage to this pale dude’s skin. We try to find a shady spot under the shadow of the lifeguard, but there is still quite a bit of a glare so Ollie is usually squinting his eyes. Obviously I want him to get some sun, but we leave that for our morning walks and lunch in the dappled shade.
We mostly just hold him, take him under, and let him stand by the steps while we are there. We tried that splash ground which is great for crawling but the spray is a little much at his low level. There is also a “zero entry” area that is a steady decline into the pool which I tried once but he didn’t love it.
If Daniel and I both go to the pool together then one of us will go and change so we can get Ollie changed while the other one goes and changes. If I am flying solo then I’ll change Ollie, while trying not to drip water on him from my wet hair, then take him to the change rooms with me to change. I did go home wet one time but damp seats on our new SUV seats didn’t go down well with the hubster.
I’d love to know what your “pool routine” is and any tips or tricks for this new mama! Happy Summer everyone!
I’m still looking for a body suit (one-piece) with long sleeves and ‘pants’ that go down to Ollie’s ankles, any recommendations?
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