A few days before the 4th of July, when the heat was so intense that our sidewalks were melting and my Secret gave out from my armpits, Cousin R and Cousin M called to ask if they could take Thing 2 swimming for the afternoon.
Let me think about that. You want to take Thing 2 swimming… for an entire afternoon… which will wear him out, as swimming does to little people, which COULD result in us getting eleven consecutive hours of sleep out of him? Which dotted line do I sign on, granting my parental permission?
The other part of me — that rational, OCD, worry-wart-like-no-other part — kept thinking about things like WHAT IF HE JUMPS IN THE DEEP END, AND THOSE TWO THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD COUSINS AREN’T PREPARED FOR IT? What if he jumps, and they’re not looking? What if the young lifeguard is busy flirting with the sophomore girl in the cute bikini and HE doesn’t see him jump? Thing 2 THINKS he can swim, but he CANNOT!! Who will watch him IN ALL THE DEEP WATER… like his mama would do???!!
Then the normal and rational part of my brain remembered how these two thirteen-year-olds are actually VERY RESPONSIBLE and also EXTREMELY ATHLETIC, which means FAST AND QUICK, WITH LIGHTNING-LIKE REFLEXES. I kept thinking about how Cousin M is often called Mr. Safety in our family, so I signed the permission slips… in ink!
Thing 2 and I met his thirteen-year-old cousins at the pool. I stayed around just long enough to take three thousand pictures with my camera… and then I went home… to a quiet house. Cousins R and M planned to swim most of the afternoon with him, and then they were going to walk through the park and get cotton candy ice cream.
In other words, it was a four-year-old’s DREAM day.
I took advantage of ALL THE QUIET at my house after I got back home to do important housework chores read a book.
But… remember that part about three thousand pictures before I left?! That’s right. I put Thing 2’s gigantic orange ear plugs in, because TUBES! TUBES IN THE EARS!, and then I snapped away with the Canon for a bit.
Here’s a BEFORE ALL THE SWIMMING snapshot, of Cousin M, Thing 2, Cousin R and R’s friend, Hannah.
And then…. BOOM! They were off to the races…
… or rather… the pool.
See? These cousins are very responsible! They stayed right with him the entire time; I was assured that I didn’t need to worry at all. My Mama’s Heart was at peace that there would be no jumping into the deep end without one of them there to catch my baby.
I’m pretty sure that this little picture of Thing 2’s HOP-SKIP sums up the entire day. He was so happy. The lifeguard only had to tell him 39,000 times, BEFORE I EVEN LEFT, to WALK! WALK! WALK!!!!
M and R even took him on the BIG water slide, over and over!
You can bet your very last penny that you were saving for more Ramen noodles that our preschooler LOVED the giant slide.
Cousin R had a fish eye lens on her phone, so she sent me some fun… ROUND… snapshots of their swimming adventures, after I had left to head for home.
Cousin M brought his Go-Pro camera to the pool, which he let Thing 2 carry around and use. There’s nothing like giving a four-year-old a video camera at the pool.
I think Dramamine could use it as a new advertising campaign!
And then, when the afternoon was over and our teenage cousins had treated Thing 2 to ice cream and some playground time at the park, M showed me some of the videos off of the Go-Pro camera.
I hugged him, because I LOVED the videos! The joy on Thing 2’s face as he whizzed down the water slide with Cousin R makes me incredibly happy!
This video also makes me crave any drug that is capable of curing motion sickness.
Did you hear in that video, towards the end, how Cousin M was checking on the bright orange ear plugs? These kids are amazing at taking care of their preschool cousin.
Thing 2 had a blast with R and M.
I don’t mean to brag… but our cousins are better than yours are. I just love them!
Oh! And Thing 2 went to bed that night… and slept ten hours and fifty entire minutes without making a single peep. I feel like that’s a major win.
Y’all have a great weekend!