My Sunshine

Right after we got back from Canada, Kristen and my mom and dad came for a visit. I really wanted to take Kayla and Aiden to the community pool where Joel and I are... well, not members, but rather... taxpayers eligible to pay a daily guest rate? Yeah, that describes it.

I am so proud of Aiden's swimming skills! He wasn't thrilled about putting his head under water when we were at the beach in July, and now he is practically Dolphin Boy! These two just bring out my silliness (not that I need much of an excuse), hence my "dinosaur voice" in the beginning of the video.

While I was a band geek in High school, Kristen was all about swim team. She was one of those year-round swimmers who not only swam for the East Pete Frogs but also the travel team winter program, the varsity team at our high school and competed all the way through college.

I look at Kayla wrapped in a towel (as seen at the end) and I can just hear, like a megaphone from the future: "Swimmers on deck for heat 1 of the 25-meter 8-and-under freestyle. In Lane 1, Kayla K****. In lane 2...." etc etc.

Meanwhile, Aiden is all about cameras and animals, which were my two favorite things when I was four (or you know, now, whatevs). He kept asking if Fred and Ollie were sleeping while we swam and if we could read to them after dinner. The cats were incredibly patient, but not much up for reading. Bella cooperated, though. I'm still working with Aiden on the difference between cats and dogs and how cats don't really come when called...



Anyway, Aide nwas obsessed with the possibility that we might see the duck that seems to love this community pool, and I was a little worried that the duck wouldn't be there that day and he'd be disappointed. Happily, the duck was not otherwise engaged in ducky things like eating bread or swimming around upside down in nearby ponds and makes a few cameos below.

I should also say that there's a scene where A kind of tackles his sister in the water. He did this six or seven times, much to her delight. She kept surfacing and clapping as Kristen and I kept our hands inches away in case the dunking went amiss. Finally, I got it through my head that she was loving it, so I taped it. She didn't clap this time, but you'll see Kayla is completely un-phased.

Listen to my spinning the video with a fear of drive-by commenters clutching their pearls as a four-year-old sinks his 20-month-old sister while I blithely filmed it. Dude, I am not going to obsess over potential imaginary mommyblogging trolls. These aren't even my kids! They are, however, my sunshine.

Swimming Day from Angela Gaul on Vimeo.

I'm an ichthyosaur! I'm extinct!