The Fishes

My wife had arranged a pool date with several kids for today, but in the end, the only one to show up was Misha. Misha and her mother came over early, so we had lunch and let the kids play around the house for a bit while we waited for the others to join us. After it was clear that nobody else was going to be able to make it, we headed off to the pool.

It wasn’t too packed, and we were able to find a little patch of water to play in. It was a very sunny and hot day, so it was nice to get in the cool water and splash around. Misha is part fish, so she happily jumped right in with me, while Troy needed a little more encouragement. I finally managed to get him into the water, and I built up his confidence and trust by letting him kick his way across the pool, while I held him and the pool noodle he was hanging onto. After a few laps of this, he started to relax and enjoy himself. Soon, he was cruising across the pool all by himself, and he and Misha started chasing each other.

Surprisingly, Misha decided she didn’t want to swim anymore after a while, but Troy refused to leave the water. We probably paddled around for over two hours, and I never left his side. Which is undoubtedly why I got sunburned. But it was well worth it to see how happy my son was splashing and kicking in the water.