The Best Day Ever

As a father of three, I believe that today rates as the best day ever so far. Sure there are other "best day ever" days, such as when I married Melinda, when Even was born, when the twins were born, but today qualifies because all three boys were involved, as was a swimming pool.

Today we went over to a friends house that had an outdoor swimming pool. Evan knew for a few days that he would be going swimming today and he was excited about it. We had bought him some "water wings" (waste of money) and a pair of goggles (why not?). He was prepared. Within, say, 10 minutes of showing up at our friends house Evan and I had our swim shorts on and were ready to get in. No, it was not a heated pool but at least it was refreshingly cool versus "cold". Thankfully the 80-90 degree weather that blanketed our area the past few days helped bring the water temperature up. I was obligated to get in the pool first with as few objections to the temperature as possible so I did. Evan dipped his toes in the water and wasn't phased at all, he wanted to jump in without my help. It didn't take much effort to convince him that he needed my help and he was lowered in to the water he had the biggest smile on this face. Yes, the thrashed around a bit as he got used to the temperature but he was hooked.

For quite a while I would drag him through the pool as he hung on to one of my arms, at other times he'd sit comfortably on a kick/boogie board as I carved turns through the water. At one point I pursuaded him to let me put a inflatable doughnut/inner tube thing around him and showed him how to hold it under his arms. I dragged him around the pool a bit with it and eventually let him float on his own. He loved it. While he still needed a bit of help kicking (floundering) forward or backward, he was a whiz at doing, well, doughnuts in the water.

Time for the next step, or better yet, plounge. While still "wearing" the doughnut and promises of something "fun", I lifted Evan up in the air a bit and quickly lowered him in to the water. I didn't quite drop him because I didn't know how he'd react but since he loved it that was the next thing I tried. This time Evan's head went under water and as he popped up I saw a big smile on his face while he excitedly started to wipe away the water from his eyes. Evan was l-o-v-i-n-g it.

At one point Melinda and Joanne brought the twins out to see how were doing. For fun they sat each of the twins on the pool's edge and let their toes dangle in the water. Nolan had a huge grin on his face and splashed with his feet a bit; Kaden wasn't quite so sure and lifted his feet out of the water. A bit later in the afternoon they repeated the process except this time decided to let Nolan "swim" too. We stripped of his shorts and I slowly lowered him in the water. Just like big bro' Nolan was all grins. I lowered Nolan up to his chest and he was still having fun. Moving him through the water he took on the crawling position and even slapped at the water a few times. Kaden wasn't as keen about the water but he had his smiles too. Evan and I played some more, all-in-all we were probably in the pool for 2-3 hours