Say hi to Queen Elise-abeth of W(h)ales.
After more than 5 months, with repeated requests from my husband, we finally brought her swimming. We packed a few things for her very first trip to the pool. The best time to go is on a weekday afternoon where you can get the entire pool to yourself.
Baby Swimming Checklist
- Baby Float x 2 (Neck float & huge baby seat float, both from Watercolours)
- Reusable swim diaper (Charlie Banana)
- Baby swimsuit (Thermal swimwear isn't really necessary)
- Towel
- Spare clothes & diapers
- Waterproof camera
I was particularly concerned about the chlorinated pool water, but we were pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't as bad as we thought as the smell was barely noticeable. We knew Elise was comfortable in the water as she likes splashing around during bath time, but we weren't sure if she would take to the large pool.
We started off in the medium pool, because the baby pool is for babies. Actually, it was because it was really cold in the baby pool and there wasn't much for Elise to do - there were water fountains and a large slide which she couldn't enjoy.
Interestingly, the medium pool was maintained at a warm enough temperature, so we put the float around her neck and plonked her into the pool.
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She hated it and was obviously uncomfortable, so we clipped it around her waist like a standard ring float instead.
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| Much better now! |
Since the neck float wasn't meant for use as a ring float, it tended to topple forward, causing water to go into her mouth. She kept trying to lick water off her float, like some puppy. She especially liked it when we carried her around in the pool.
We got stopped by the lifeguard for using our waterproof camera because apparently, some sicko used a waterproof camera to take underwater photographs of women's bottoms. -_- Perverts ruin everyone's lives.
Splash splash splash. I can't wait for her to learn swimming properly, so we can all swim together. She seems to like it! My husband wanted to dunk her underwater after watching a video of infants swimming with their heads underwater, but I didn't want to play with the risk of her drowning in front of our eyes.
The thing about public pools is that there's no warm water in the shower area, so I could only give her a quick rinse under the icy cold shower before drying her off.
Babies really let you relive your childhood. You get to play with blocks, sand, paint, dolls, pretend food and role play all over again.
