Twin Challenge #2 - Swimming

I said as we were heading into summer that this would be the hardest summer of my life. So far that is probably true, though it may be a tie with the summer I was potty training twins and pregnant with twins!

But let’s start from the beginning. Kaitlyn and Mackenzie were born in the summer, so they never went to a pool until they were 1. It wasn’t so tough really. It took a lot of gear, but I just had to have another adult – Mike or my mom – and then we were one on one.

The next year they were 2. Still wasn’t too bad as long as I had another adult. Though they did want to run everywhere and would run straight into the pool if you didn’t have a hand on them.

Then they were 3, and I was pregnant again. I could make do by myself if I had to, but it was still difficult because, let’s face it, 3-yr-olds are unpredictable, and our neighborhood pool told me the little arm floaties weren't allowed. So, I still generally tried to make sure someone was with me. But late in the summer we went to a friend’s house and it was just me. I brought the kids’ floaties, but they loaned me a couple swim vests for a while. Suddenly….FREEDOM!!

Why had I not discovered this before? I could sit in a chair and just watch them swim in the pool! It was awesome. I remember Mackenzie even fell in head first, but her body just flipped upright and it was no big deal. I couldn’t believe I had never bought them before. 2 summers in a row I had thought about it, even thought it was a great idea, and yet every time I was at the store looking at them, I didn’t buy them. They are about $20 a piece and I always thought adding $40 to my bill was a lot. If I had only known how that $40 would have been money well-spent! So my eyes had been opened but there was no point in buying some for just a few weeks left of summer.

But last year they were 4. My first purchase of the summer – swim vests! Hallelujah!! It was great! I no longer had to rely on others to take my kids swimming. And we had a nanny at the time so I just left the babies at home. I took them to swimming playdates, swim parties, and just for fun in the neighborhood. The negative this time is that the same summer I bought swim vests for my kids to rely on, I also enrolled them in swim lessons. I guess that is kind of contrary, but what’s a girl to do? I can’t risk them drowning. Okay, and let me just say, when it comes to safety I’m kind of anal. Kind of. But it’s stressful enough with them IN the vests, much less without the vests. So vests it is!

Then, this year. Oh my gosh. 4 mobile kids who can’t swim. Texas heat. Nothing to do but swim. One of the hottest summers on record. 4 kids who can’t swim. Need I say more?

Okay I’m going to say more. First, the goal this summer has been for Kaitlyn and Mackenzie to no longer need a vest. Kaitlyn started the summer DEATHLY afraid to put her face in the water. It was as if she never even took lessons last summer. But thanks to the lessons we had with the swim nazi (I would elaborate but I fear she will one day read my blog), Kaitlyn is now swimming like a champ (but only at her lessons). Mackenzie is doing great as well. They can both finally go off the slide and swim to the edge with no help. They can swim around a backyard pool with no help. But they STILL have to be watched carefully because just when you think they’re fine they decide to just flounder and start drowning anyway.

Now how am I supposed to watch both of them and two toddlers? It’s completely impossible. On their first day of swim lessons they told their teacher they’re not allowed to swim without their vests. She looked at me like “no wonder they’re nearly 5 and can’t swim.” That’s one of those moments where I think, “other people just do not get it.” In fact that is the whole reason I started a blog. So many things people do not know from the outside looking in. It’s all been stuffed in my head and only my mom and husband understand because they are living it with me. Now is my chance to get it all out and by miracle it is taking away some of my stress! Even if no one ever reads any of this!

But back to swimming.  So twice a week all summer I have been taking the kids to swim lessons, while I sit there in the sweltering heat with the babies in the stroller. I cannot believe I can be wringing wet just from sitting in the shade for 30 minutes. That’s how hot it is. As for the babies, they’re fine for a 30 minute lesson to just sit in the stroller and have snacks. But taking THEM to the pool has been an entirely different story. We have to bring them into the pool in a stroller just to carry everything. Dressing them, undressing them, sunscreen, loading them into the floatie. The second you let go, they are gone. I think some of these are largely unnoticed when it is only one child but when there are two (or more!!) it’s all hands on deck. I find myself just sitting on the lounge chair staring into space because I’m so overwhelmed that I’m afraid to move.

So, I started the summer knowing I was wiser this time around with swimming. I would get vests for the little ones and even though they were crazy toddlers, maybe, just maybe I could do it. Wrong! There is no device that is safe enough or fits my 1 ½ year olds. I bought the closest thing I could find. The only one that was the right size – a swimsuit with built in flotation device. The first time in the pool they still just toppled right over. Even in the deep it did not hold them upright. Like the vests, I discovered halfway through the summer that a swim sweater (like a tank top with a small ring on it) would probably work but they had to be ordered and by then summer was 2/3 over, again a waste of money. Plus I’d already decided I wouldn’t be taking them very often. I concluded that after our second time swimming this summer that it would take a minimum of 3 adults for our crew. One for each baby and one more to take the big girls, even in their vests. It did not help that Ashley would not go in the water. She is the fastest baby alive and wants only to run and climb at top speed! It is not fun to CHASE a toddler around a slippery poolside. And screaming in the water and hurting the ears of all within a 5 mile radius was not really an option.

So there you have it. I AM happy to report though that the last few times we’ve been she has finally gotten okay with riding around in a float. And the big girls have gotten better. We actually CAN have only 2 adults. 1 with each baby in the big pool, and stay close to the big girls. Who still have to wear their vests. At least they do if we have the babies with us. But we’ve told them next year they will not have the vests. And I will be putting them on the swim team. An activity near and dear to my heart that I look forward to.

And next year the little girls will be 2 ½, and THEY will be in vests. A little bit more freedom, even if it is only a little bit at a time.