We joined a playgroup this week and boy! What a lifesaver it's been. Our first playdate was at one of the community centers' pools on post. We met some other wives and moms, made some new friends, and had a good time wearing ourselves out. Juggling two small kids, by myself, in a pool is no small feat. Things like this make me really miss (and appreciate!) my husband! When we first got in, both boys thought they were invincible and started off toward the deep end. Riley was first, and dipped under just long enough for me to yank him back out. He kept going for it, too. Our new friend, Casey loaned us her small inner tube and that helped a little, except that he would spin in it and go back under. While I was "rescuing" Riley James slipped behind me and got in the 3 ft area. I turned around to look for him and saw him flailing under the water. In between my anxiety and small cardiac arrest I ran/waded as fast as I could and picked him up. He had panicked and drank a lot of water and was dizzy. I was freaking out that he was going to have some delayed drowning/submersion/water intoxication injury (thanks Web MD) so Casey was sweet enough to keep an eye on Riley while I carried him over to a lounge chair to knock the water out of him and make him cough it up and get his color back. He was fine (but I still freaked out all day and didn't even let him nap because I was sure he was going to die in his sleep). I gave him a stern warning to stay by my side and not to wander off too deep anymore. He got a good enough scare that he's done so, ever since.
Of course the first impression all our new friends were going to have of us was my kids drowning in the public pool.
After we left the pool, we stopped by Target (they're going to know me by name before long!) and stocked up on pretty much the entire swimming aisle. I bought arm floaties, inner tubes, life jackets! If they had a friggen bubble to put the kids in, I would have bought it. We are going to be frequenting the pools and beach this summer and my kids are NOT GOING TO DROWN so help me!
Jason came home yesterday for a hot minute to get a few things. Riley was excited to see him, as were the dogs, but James was cold. He wouldn't even look at his Daddy. I told Jason not to take it personally, that James understood he couldn't stay and he didn't want to go through those hard goodbyes again. When Jason left, I asked James how he felt. He told me he was okay, but he was mad because Daddy had to leave again. I hate that my kids have to go through this. James's understanding of how military life works and his rationality about everything blow my mind. I can't believe how a 3 year old can grasp something that even I don't always understand.
We're all doing really well with everything, especially since both the boys were sick this week. Nothing more than a small head cold and runny noses (luckily!).
Today was another playdate, this time at the Callaway Gardens beach. We packed up our picnic basket (I'm really glad I bought it...from where else? Target!), and our beach bag and all our new flotation devices and drove out this morning to meet up with our new friends.
Riley was soooo cranky. The yogurt smoothie in the car on the way over didn't hold him so we started off with a snack. Then he was annoyed with the bulk of his new lifejacket. The sand was too hot to walk across, the sunscreen was in his eyes, and the leaves and twigs in the water freaked him out. At one point a small, maybe 2 inch stick floated by him and he screamed at it hysterically.
The snack made him feel a little better, so he ventured out to the water with big brother.
James was golden. He never waded out too far, he kept his arm floaties on, ate his sandwich at lunch, and was just wonderful. He had some issues warming up to the other kids and sharing at first, but they were having a blast when all was said and done.
Between all the floaties and tubes and lifejackets, I'm happy to say there were no near-death-drowning experiences today!
Cranky boy. When I brought him out to the deeper water (and by deeper, I mean up to my thighs, if that) and his feet didn't touch the ground because he was floating in his water safety getup, he freaked out.
There's the top of Casey's hat and her daughter, Lucy's pigtails. She was saved from the camera by Riley's giant head.
Riley spent his deep-water freak outs wrapping his legs around my thigh and grasping for dear life to my bikini ties. If I was going to be mean enough to drag him out to this deathly deep water and drop him, he was determined to take my swimsuit with him!
All the splashing and swimming called for a much deserved picnic lunch on the beach. PB&J sandwiches, grapes, yogurt, almond milk (they now have them in the juice box kind of boxes! I was so excited to find them at Publix yesterday!), and granola bars.
Walking from the car to the beach was much easier than walking to the car from the beach. How is it, even after using up diapers and food and throwing away trash, that when you leave you drag more crap with you?? Now that the floaties and toys were inflated I couldn't make anything fit in the beach bags or basket. Dragging 3 bags and 2 kids was miserable. James was whining because he had to carry the [not heavy at all] bucket of beach toys, Riley kept wandering off and whining, I just kept grunting and yelling and juggling all our stuff covered in 3 tons of sand. Eventually we made it and as soon as we got loaded James announced his sudden urgency to go pee. Riley catnapped in the car on the drive home, which has made his regular naptime impossible and miserable. James decided he didn't need a nap either, so both have been oh-so-pleasant this afternoon (and I'm still exhausted! Where's my nap?).
Staying busy hasn't helped my messy house or the kids' naptimes, but my sanity? Oh yes. My friend, Emmy is driving down from Tennessee next week to visit (I can't wait!), we have a few more playdates planned for next week, we're going to one of the churches on post on Sunday (it's the only time we can see Jason for now), and Sunday afternoon we're getting together with one of our neighbors. James has been begging to play with other kids ever since we moved here a month ago and I've been dying to meet other moms (hello adult conversation!). If we keep this up, I think it's going to be a great summer!
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