It's Apparent you're a Parent

Scott and Owen have been doing swim lessons on Fridays after work. Today, Scott got home early and we decided that I would get a chance to do a lesson with Owen. Unfortunately, I think I drew the short stick somewhere along the line...

10 minutes to go in our lesson. Owen's in the corner of the pool, insisting that he wants to watch the kids in the big pool. When I ask him if he'd like to come play on the noodles with the other kids, he announces (loudly), "No. I'm Pooping!" Okay, out of the pool, grab our bag of clothes and towels, and shuffle into the locker room. Wet swimsuit off, swim diaper off, keep the soggy poop off my feet and the floor, wipe off the naked bottom and send Owen toward the shower. Success. Few.

Not Quite. Turn around and notice there are 15 middle school girls overflowing out of the shower area with Owen standing naked and shivering in the middle of the locker room. Okay. What to do? Wiggle the wet swimsuit back on Owen (nobody will notice if he pees while he's dripping wet, right?). Grab our clothing bag and towels and head for the family changing rooms. Shoot. Our shoes and jackets are still in a locker. Add those to the pile that is already falling out of my arms. Maneuver Owen back out into the pool area, so we can walk across the building (past all the parents watching lessons, all the kids in lessons, and all the adults doing deep water fitness while still in a make-shift, 3 months post-partum, I guess this fits as long as I stay under the water swimsuit) and over to the family changing areas. One is open! Drop the pile of gear on the bench and send Owen toward the shower. Success. Few.

Not Quite. The shower won't turn on. Seriously? Okay, gather up all the gear that is now more out of the bag than in and head down the hall. Next changing room looks like a disaster area. Move on. Third changing room has people coming out of it. That means the shower must be functional! In we go. Dump the pile, Turn on the shower. Cold. Cold? Wait... wait... wait... Hot! Yes! Owen warms up, we clean up and manage to have dry clothes for both of us (at this point, I was pretty much expecting to be missing either underwear or socks or something). Success. Few.

Not Quite. I drop an earring back an have to rumage around the changing room floor to find it. Have you ever looked under those grated mats? I don't advise it. Let's just say that earring back got a throough washing and some peroxide when we got home. Bleh. And... we... are... out the door and home, where Scott was already working on dinner. Success!! Yes!

The part that surprised me was that it wasn't until I was in the car, driving home, that I even began to realize how flustering the whole experience should have been. Instead, I was a sea of calm through it all. Taking each setback in stride and just moving on to the next logical solution. Quite the change from those first few months of parenting! The first time Owen did swim lessons (at 8 months old), I felt like I would never be able to even get the two of us dried off and dressed by myself. Now, I'm hoping to get both kids in lessons at the same time this summer, so I will regularly be juggling two wet and potentially smelly kids at the same time - Ha!