The First Of Many

Anna had her first swimming lesson yesterday.

The plan was that Katie would take her (Katie's our nanny).

Because, you know, I work.

And then I was sitting here working and I looked at the clock and it said 9:50am. Her lesson started at 10am.

I said to myself, "What am I thinking? I want to be there."

So I ran downstairs and grabbed my wallet and looked for my keys in the little blue pot on the windowsill where the keys are supposed to be. Not there. Of course they're not there when I have only five minutes to make it to Anna's first swimming lesson.

So I went to the garage, pushed the button to open the door, and jumped on my bike.

I peddled, peddled, peddled my way on over there (it's not too far) and arrived just as she was getting in the water.

She was mostly smilely and a little scowly at the cold water and the clouds that were blocking the sun. She kept looking over at Katie and I, smiling her big toothy grin. She was shy with the teacher, a big guy, but was happy to take her turn off the steps to do her kicks as he guided her around the shallow end.

I bet today she'll be blowing bubbles just like those other two little boys in her group.

Towards the end she was looking over at us and saying she was cold. Right about then it was time for a field trip over to the hot tub for an end-of-class warm up.

She was mad when I finally pulled her out of the hot tub to wrap her in a towel. Katie and I looked at each other with a knowing look about this awesome, opinionated, almost two-and-a-half-year-old who is coming into her own.

She changed her attitude when we told her about seeing Mama's bike out in the parking lot.

"I want to ride." she said.

So she rode home with me in her new seat on my bike.

"Woo hoo" she yelled and then chattered on as we made our way home. "Mama, I want to tell you about Max and Ruby. Mama, my helmet is too tight. Mama, where is your house? Mama, where is Katie? Mama, I tired. Mama, I love you."