Eamon vs. Water

Over the holiday weekend, the Wolfe family made a trip across the Virginia peninsulas to meet up with our friends the Greens who live in Okinawa. It was the second overnight trip Eamon has taken (see Meltdown Extravaganza), and we worry how he'll react. He's done much better with strangers recently, but we curtailed our plans a little just to be safe. We wanted to take a trip to DC and visit friends, but were unsure how having his routine disruped for 3 or 4 days would affect him.

Anyway, the visit was great and it was good to catch up. The exciting part was getting Eamon to sample a pool for the first time. No, not having him eat it (although he did try- like he tries to put everything in his mouth).

As a former lifeguard, I think it is imporatnt to get him used to the water early. I loved being in the water (and still do), so naturally I want Eamon to feel comfortable, too. He has become more interested in bath time since he figured out he could splash, so we weren't too worried about the adventure.

Admittedly, the pool (although heated) was chilly. It took a little while to get used to it. Have we mentioned Eamon's dislike of cold? He won't drink from the bottle if it's too cold, he won't sleep well if he's too cold, he doesn't like the wind if it's too cold, etc. Although this fact was well known to us, we tried to get him in the water anyway. It didn't quite go as planned. Little man went from smilely happy baby to upset crier in 2.3 seconds. I kept him in the pool anyway, since I had grown accustomed to the temperature and thusly thought that he would, too. Wrong again. More screaming. So we took him out.

I sat him on the edge of the pool to see if he would go with just having his feet in the water. No. Once removed from the (assumed) torture, Eamon quickly retured to his smiling happy self. Not being a quitter, I wanted to try again. This time we slowly waded in, and I took off his hat so I could submerge him, thinking that if it was all done at once, he might actually like it. Wrong. Blood-curdling screams leapt from his little lungs. Who knew something so small could make noises that loud?

Well, even though his first foray into the water was a complete and total failure, I am going to sigh him up for baby swimming lessons next week. Maybe the indoor pool will be better for him...