Random Randoms

I went on a field trip with Marcus’s preschool today. After snack the kids were to go get their shoes and coats on, as well as the mandatory fluorescent green institutional shirt, and then line up by holding onto a giant rope. We were just about ready to go, headcount completed, when a little voice said, “Mia’s still wearing her slippers.” She was indeed. Big, fluffy, pink slippers. The teachers hustled her in to go grab her shoes, and after a couple minutes there was another little voice, “Hey, I’m still wearing my slippers too!” That kid went in to change her shoes, and then the teachers started inspecting feet. Four more kids were sent in to get their shoes on. Finally we were all lined up and ready to head out the gate. The head teacher went over the “rope rules”: If you fall, let go of the rope and yell, “STOP!”, if your shoe or your hat falls off—“ “OH! MY HAT!” A little boy dropped the rope, ran around the group, and back into the centre. Brilliant. We thankfully made it to the bus stop in time. One kid lost a shoe on the way, but a teacher scooped it up and put it back on him when we got there. I love the mandate: We don’t stop for fallen shoes! The pack must continue!

Swimming lessons began again last Sunday. It was Marcus’s first time in the big pool, which is several degrees colder than the ones he is used to. He was a real trooper getting in there and doing his thing, but David and I were laughing when the kids all got out. They were huddled together on the pool deck, all in identical stances, teeth chattering, elbows in, hands clasped on chest. David was reminded of the movie Happy Feet, where each of the penguins had to take their turn on the outside of the pack. “We must all take our turn from the cold!”

Skyler is so brave in the pool. I have her in Ducks, which has an age range of 18 months to I think 3 years old, so she’s one of the older kids in there. Many of the parents have never dunked their kidlets before, so they were quite aghast at my behaviour at the pool. We do jumps in the waist-deep water, and Skyler is pretty confident about jumping in, so I tend to not catch her. It’s no big deal, she’s wearing goggles after all. She sinks down to the bottom, I fish around for a second and find an arm or other body part, and then pull her up to the top. She thinks it’s great, but I can tell some of the nearby parents are pretty uncomfortable with it. I can see the concern in their eyes, wondering if maybe they should help that poor kid out, wondering if I plan on getting her. I think next time I go I’ll pretend to not know where she is when she jumps in. “Skyler? Where’d she go?! Anyone seen my kid?”

My son is really into doing prenatal pilates these days. I throw the disc on and we do the exercises together. During our workout today he was mucking around with something, and Skyler went to take it from him, so he pushed her down. When I sent him to timeout I turned the dvd off because I figured they were acting up because they needed some attention. From timeout he starts wailing and screaming, “NOOOOOoooo PILATES!!!! DON’T turn it OFF! I WANT PILATEEEEEEEEEES!!!”