Getting our feet wet.

I took Eliot to the pool today for the first time. (My first time, not his). I can't even begin to describe what the look of sheer joy on his face does to me. It's my entire reason for being. If I had known our local pool was this great, I'd have been taking him every day this summer. I can't believe we've just now discovered it.

The local pool complex is made up of several separate pools, and one is a zero entry with tons of spraying equipment and a frog water slide for the little kids. We spent a lot of time in the zero entry pool. There is also a full sized pool and another separate pool for diving, along with a larger water slide. Eliot begged to go into the regular pool, and as always, I was a little hesitant about it, but finally took him. He LOVED it. He really likes to swim. Clearly we'll have to look into lessons next summer. 

The reason I finally swallowed my own fear and brought Eliot swimming was that my new friend K talked me into going and meeting her and her son there. I'm so glad I did. I've avoided the pool because I'm the heaviest I've ever been in my life (including when I was nine months pregnant w/ Mog) and the thought of being in a swimming suit in public did not appeal to me, to say the least. In fact, I may just have to count today as one of my acts of bravery. LOL.

I guess when it comes right down to it, though, I'd rather have these experiences, these photos, and these memories than stay safe at home fully clothed. Now Mog and I can look back through the family albums and see these and say "Remember when..." instead of him asking me, "Mom, why didn't we ever go swimming when I was a kid?" "Oh honey, I deprived you of that experience because I thought my butt looked fat."

Nope. No way. My own unfounded fears have limited my life for long enough, and I'll be darned if they're going to limit my son's. I'll face anything for him. Airplanes. Spiders. Snakes. Even a swimming suit.

Eliot has two pairs of swimming trunks, but he chose the Spiderman pair, because, as he informed me this morning, "Spiderman is COOL!"

It's hilarious to hear him talking like a big kid all the time. We stopped by Arby's for a quick lunch before the pool, and had to wait a bit on our food. When the worker came out and set our tray down in front of Eliot, he said, "Enjoy, little man." For whatever reason, Eliot thought that was the silliest phrase he'd ever heard. He waited until the guy walked back behind the counter, put a hand over his mouth, and whispered, "Mommy, that boy talked to me. He said, 'Enjoy, little man!" And he burst into a fit of giggling. Then, throughout lunch, he kept randomly laughing again and chanting,"Enjoy, little man! Enjoy, little man!"

We'll definitely be headed back to the pool soon. Little man enjoys it. So does his big fat Momma. ;)