fear to phelps

Oliver thinks any time we enter the bathroom should be time to take a bath. Sometimes I have to move the potty to the hall way or his bedroom just so he will sit down for a few minutes. It's hard to undress him to get in the tub because he is already busy trying to swing his leg over the side.
So I figure if you think the tub is so great let's try the pool. I did some research and found a lovely indoor pool with a zero depth entrance at the Matt Ross community center in Overland Park. Not being sure if this will be fun or torture I'm a little nervous. Jim works on Saturdays, so we are going at it alone. It is $7 each, which if he loves it is worth it, if he is terrified it is kind of a waste...
We get to running our annoying errands; post office, bank, swim diapers from target, then head to the pool. The community center has a family changing room with spacious and private places to change and go to the bathroom. I'm already in love since I'm a huge fan of privacy especially when changing! We get our winter white selves into our bathing suites. Oh my goodness he is so cute in his little swim trunks, but we are at the pool and I'm alone so no photos. We open the door to the pool area and it's like a rain forest in there. Hot and humid and kind of nice. He is all pointing and excited about the splashing water.
I stand him up near the edge and show him how I can splash my foot in the water. He just looks at me like "you've got to be kidding me, I'm not ready for this" I pick him up and walk in. The deepest this pool is, is about 3 feet 4 inches...nothing too heroic. I could have let him go and he would have been fine, that's how hard he was clinging to me. No crying or pouting just clinging. The pool area has a small lazy river. I grab a noodle and we bob around the lazy river. After about 10 laps he starts putting his hands out and splashing. Loosening his grip on me he starts kicking his legs.
After about 30 minutes at the pool he has transformed from cling-on to wanting to jump off the side into the water with the "big kids" (3 year olds) After jumping in he likes me to hold his middle while he lays on his belly and kicking his feet and splashing his arms. He gets his face wet, he leans his head back in the water, he even braves touching the spraying water, but all he really wants to do is jump of the side. There is a woman holding her, what looks like a two and a half year old, telling him to look at the baby (Oliver) who is jumping into the pool. She says "look if he can do it you can." I just think, 19 days ago I turned on the shower to suggest bathing and he ran screaming and crying from the room. We bathed together with our clothes on for a number of days. Now he is a little swimmer.
After our workout we went to Panera for a cup of soup and a sandwich. Oliver sat like a nice young man, not moving from his spot. There is not messing around when food is involved, he saves his crazy for non food related events like the shopping cart at target. He enjoyed the baked potato soup, the hunk for french baguette and the turkey sandwich.
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P.S. Did you see his referral photos on the side --->
How could we ever have said no