rachel.blog

Swimming lessons

Daniel had the last of his swimming lessons today. He spent all of the previous two days in tears so I wasn’t terribly hopeful about today but it was the best day of all. He finally understood that he needed to keep his mouth shut before putting his head under water and that it’s not possible to breathe down there. Funny how such a simple thing could be so hard for him. Telling him to keep his mouth closed didn’t work as he kept going under water with his mouth open and then getting a mouthful of the stuff and resurfacing in tears. I drew him a picture this morning before we left home of a child going under water with his mouth shut, so maybe that helped. He succeeded in going under numerous times today and managed to hold his breath for 32 seconds. That’s a huge achievement as he could barely go under for 2 seconds yesterday. I would like to continue with lessons next week but he’s not so keen so I thought we’d have a break and do some fun water activities instead. Then maybe the week after we can resume.

It’s a risky business taking small children into a public dressing area by the pool. Today, after we’d finished getting our togs on, Daniel announced quite loudly, “That lady has a big bottom”. She did indeed have a rather large bottom but I told Daniel it wasn’t polite to say such things. Then after our swim, Elizabeth announced in her loudest voice, “Mummy has a ‘gina”. She is right, I do indeed have a vagina.

Near to the Parnell Baths is a swimming area in the sea. They have built a jetty and some swimming platforms to swim out to. It reminds me of Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief where she swims out to similar platforms in the Mediterranean. I’ve not seen platforms like that anywhere else. It looks rather nice and almost tempting, but I bet the water is freezing.

Zeki has been at the vet again today. He’s got lots of problems. I’m thinking of hooking our vet up to a direct credit from our bank account since we seem to be handing over hoards of cash to them. At what point do you stop and say, time to euthanize? Then there’s the question of what to do with Zeki.

Posted

in

by

Rachel M

Tags:

Comments

4 responses to “Swimming lessons”

  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Well done with the swimming lessons and your own innovative ideas, Rachel. Keep persevering. I think you're almost there.As to Zeki, can't you walk a bit more slowly or stick him in the stroller? We don't put people with skin problems down or because they walk more slowly with age. Wonderful photo taken by Ben btw.Also love the look of that swimming platform and the Parnell baths from another blog. Nobody using the platform though so it must be cold. The water looks clean.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Your 'gina story reminds me of Bailey asking – 'Mummy, why do you have whiskers on your front bottom?'. I'm just glad it was a question saved for home and not the public pool! He did also comment on a very fat man in the supermarket line up one day, simply stating 'Mum, that man is really, really fat.'Oh and congrats to Daniel for learning to hold his breath under water!

    Reply
  3. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    Zeki gets walked separately now: just a short stroll up and down the hill. We're not going to put him down. I can't help but think though, that all his problems began when we started taking him to the vet up here for flea allergies and he started taking pills. Before then, he was perfectly healthy. He was not taking any pills for anything at all and aside from his annual vaccinations, never needed the vet. Now there is something seriously wrong with him. He's going to have some blood tests done and I have to get another urine sample. I'm sure the steroids haven't been good for him but I also wonder about the adverse effects of those capstar and comfortis tablets. I know they're supposed to be perfectly safe but the same was said of thalidomide for pregnant women once upon a time.

    Reply
  4. Rachel Avatar
    Rachel

    Yes I was glad Elizabeth didn't say something like "Mummy has a hairy 'gina". But I'm quite proud of my whiskers and can't understand why the younger generation of women today feels the need to shave it all off. Their children won't be able to ask Bailey's question.

    Reply

Leave a reply to Anonymous Cancel reply