1. Swimming Beauties
2. Swimming Babies
3. Swimming Boys
A Grim night. Son 2 aged 17m woke hollering at 0030, and I went to him, switched his fan on (white noise) and helped him back to sleep. I hadn’t got back to sleep when Son 1 aged 4y 5m woke up, and I went in with him. When he went back to sleep I went in the double bed in Son 2’s room. I was so wrecked when he woke up that I tried to get him back to sleep. He refused. Needed new nappy. Son 1 arrived. No chance of getting back to bed. Looking out at the river while I changed Son 2 I saw 10 swans, seven swimming in a long line, three stragglers bringing up the rear. A record for the river. Son 1 said something about seeing a long line of swans a few days ago.
Son 2 was again, uncontainable this morning. Climbing, pulling things out of drawers, demanding mobile phones and the fancy ear thermometer. He wriggled down from the bed while I was reading to him and marched off to the bathroom, patting the taps, tugging at his pyjama top “A-ma. A-ma.” He always comes in the shower with me, but I’d already decided we were going to Baby swimming. He was desperate to get in the pool, swam on the noodle with me, but really wanted to wander off on the tiles without me. I let him the first time. Skid. Bang. Wah. Huge bump on his head. Split lip open again. Blood everywhere. I mopped him up and we went back in. A bit more swimming, but then he wanted to get out. He was asleep in the car seat when we got back to the house, and stayed asleep while I took his coat and shoes off, put him in his sleeping bag and put him in his cot.
I went back to the Pool with Son 1. Best Friend and his brother were there with their parents. And a colleague of mine from The Office with his three boys. And the two boys nannied by Wonder Nanny’s friend. And Lifestyle Guru Hairdresser and her two boys. Son 1 played with Best Friend in the spa pools and the main pool. He went down the Flume twice, me following behind him. Best Friend left. Son 1 played, I followed. Lovely Chair (I sit on the noodle and he pulls it away; I pretend I don’t know who did it,) Terrible Weather (we sit under surf boards under the big fountain and the water hammers on top,) Killer Whales and Crocodiles. Back at the house Son 2 had only just woken up and was having lunch. Afterwards Son 1 made a picture of peacock with the feathers we found on Tuesday. I was thinking eco-material collage. Son 1 did his own thing and wouldn’t accept parental guidance. It was roadkill.
Tags: Baby Swimming, bad sleep habits, Best Friend, broken night, collage, disturbed sleep, feathers, flume, Lifestyle Guru Hairdresser, lip injury, noodle, sleeping through the night, Swans, swimming pool
