Togetherness - Part I

I am very fortunate in that my employers have permitted me to work some flexi-time into my contract, so that on a Tuesday morning I can continue to take my daughter swimming. It's a real bonus for me; I love spending the extra couple of hours with her, and she adores going in the water (as long as it's not too cold!)

Each week we go down to the leisure centre and as soon as we arrive in the car park she recognises where we are and starts to get excited. We go downstairs to the changing rooms and she waves her arms and legs around; she can't wait to get into the water! Once I'm ready and she's in her swimmies, we go through the door to the side of the baby pool. I hang up her towel and we go down the steps into the water. I sit her on my knee and almost immediately have to restrain her to stop her flinging herself face-first into the water! I'm still not quite sure if she's trying to crawl on it, trying to grab hold of it or just trying to put it in her mouth...

The lessons mainly consist of lots of women shuffling around the swimming pool in a variety of crouching positions whilst towing a child who may or may not wish to be there and making encouraging noises along the lines of "Kick! Kick! Kick! That's a good girl!" "Come on darling, arms out, there's a good boy!" and other essentially meaningless phrases (meaningless as none of the children is over 10 or 11 months old!)

Our daughter loves this experience however. She giggles at the teacher, reaches for the pool toys and adores licking the water! I, on the other hand, am not always so keen, as unlike her my role doesn't involve casually floating around while being towed about on the surface! No, my role involves balancing in a squat position whilst towing a small child across a shallow pool - not exactly relaxing! But a good workout, and I love watching her enjoy herself and being able to spend the time with her.