Today was bowling and swimming lessons. We are signed up for kids bowl free, a program which allows your kids bowl two games every day at a participating bowling center for free. You pay for the shoe rental, but the games are covered. This year, I got a parent pass add-on, so I can also bowl.
I decided on the spur of the moment to take them bowling. This time, it was bumpers all the way. Surprisingly, 2yo bowled the second highest score on our first game, with 4 spares! Way to go, girl! She was using that little contraption which allows balls to slide down the lane, but one of my sons was using that, too, and he did not have the same success rate. What I liked the most about bowling was the good-natured sportsmanship the boys were exhibiting, even though it was competitive: high-fiving each other on the spares, cheering on, wishing good luck. They were not as nice towards me... but that's because I was in the lead. The second game, however turned around. I scored one measly spare the whole game, while all the kids got at least one spare. 8 yo won that one.
Today was also the first day of swimming lessons. We took them last year, but, for some reason, they placed the boys together and that was the undoing of 6 yo, he refused to swim, was scared to lie down on his back, and spent a few sessions kicking and screaming on the sidelines. This year, i made sure they were in different groups, as they should, since they have different skill levels. It was also 8 yo secret dream to be able to make a swim team. The boys were excited to get into their swimming suits, but even more so for their new Costco goggles. I got a 3-pack and they spent weeks obsessing over who will get which pair. When I opened it up, it turned out that one pair was too big, so they made do with the other two.
They boys joined their groups and I observed 6 yo enthusiastically jump right in, ask for extra practice turns and be in good spirits in general. 8 yo worked on the kickboard. I sat in the baby pool with 2 yo, who wandered around. I will try to remember to bring some water toys next time, which is tomorrow.
I was also surprised to see that whole families were coming in, both parents with the kids. This was 4:15, still standard work day. I kept thinking to myself, what kind of work/schedule do they have that they have the luxury to attend kids' swim lessons together? I am so used to doing everything alone.
When the lesson was over and I successfully extracted all three kids from the pool and got them home, there was the laundry dilemma: do I wash the bathing suits and towels? Hang them to dry? DO I wash the kids? rinse them? Use shampoo? I have two weeks of everyday lessons and I need to work out a plan to keep my sanity.
What do you do?
there are 2 schools of thought regarding swimming: 1) you need a bath after swimming 2) the swimming is in lieu of the bath.
ReplyDeleteguess which one i'm in ;-)
i have each kid drape his or her items on a chair as soon as they get home so our chairs are full of bathing suits and towels. they are almost always dry the next day when they have to use them again (teach them to spread them out properly).