Don’t Call Them Swimming Lessons

I signed B and S up for swimming lessons this week. Shh. Don’t tell them. Just say, “We’re going to a pool today. And there might be other kids there. And an instructor. His name is Kim. [giggle giggle] And he might play with you in the water.”
Hey, it worked!
There are three kids in the swimming class. Two of them are my kids. I haven’t been yet, because I was at work today. But I haven’t seen my family all happy at the same time and for such a prolonged amount of time in a LONG TIME. They called me after the (non) lesson to tell me how it went. First I got the synopsis from J. Then B got on the phone to tell me how he put his head “all the way under the water, Mommy. And I said ‘elephant’ under water!”
“Really, buddy!? Elephant?! And then what happened?” I said, thinking he’d tell me about bubbles blowing or something or water up his nose.
“Nothing, silly,” he said. (Why am I always expecting the worst from the poor kid?)
Then S got on the phone to tell me the instructor’s name, and how funny it was that Kim is a BOY, when the librarian is MISS Kim. (Turns out Miss Kim knows Instructor Kim. Turns out Instructor Kim taught Miss Kim how to swim.) (We live in a small town.)
When I got home from work everyone was STILL HAPPY. They had been to the library. Thus the Miss Kim/Instructor Kim knowledge. And S rode her bike with training wheels. And B scooted his way on his Razor, wearing his new sandals “That I can put on myself, Mom.” (Thank the shoe lord.)
We played in the backyard after I got home instead of hurrying in for dinner and books and stories and music and bedtime. And when it was dinnertime, everyone ate. No food hit the floor (well, except from the heights of the high chair, but Em is excused for this behavior). Jammies were donned. Books were selected. Meltdowns were avoided. J and I shared a few smiles. I think I may even have touched his back as we passed in the hall, each of us tending to a child’s needs.

As a mother there are so many things that I want for my children. But I so often feel that I am not setting them up to achieve these things. That the days are full of just the daily chores and achievements of meals and naps and playing and cleaning. I can do that stuff. It’s the stuff like lessons that I’m not very good at. So I’m feeling pretty good about the swim lessons, that I signed them up for on Friday, on a whim. Something I rarely do. Whims, I mean. It feels so silly. To feel so good about such a small thing. A week of half-hour lessons in a town pool with a guy who has been teaching kids to swim for years. It makes me feel like our roots are taking hold here. In this small town. Like we are a party to some knowledge that not just anyone can come upon. Knowledge that is making my kids happy swimmers.

I know the trip to the pool isn’t entirely responsible for the lasting good mood of my family today. I know that the baby had two good naps, J has had a little more sleep the past few nights, the kids were in the company of other kids. But I’m going to just step back and be glad that I made the call on Friday. Tracked down Kim, the instructor, after an informal chat with a friend who told me about the lessons. I’m going to pat myself on the back. Just lightly. Because even though I was at work today, it was a good mothering day for me.
(Shh. Don’t tell anybody.)