Anecdotes and Collected Shorts

The Gremlin is ready for summer. He was saying this and sighing the other day, and so I asked him what his favorite part of the summer was. He then regaled me with his favorite summer ritual - removing as many clothes as possible. Apparently when he gets warm, he will ask his mother to take him to the Chicago Park District pool and sprinkler park. Once there, he will dress down to his trunks and then inform his mother that he no longer wants to swim, but wants to play in the sand. Apparently, that's his 'cool-down' for the hot summers.

The Mother of the Gremlin has started to frequent a coffee shop called Family Grounds Cafe as it offers direct injections of caffeine, but also has a separate playground for toddlers - allowing mothers to gather together in relative peace. I say only relative because of one of the signs on the wall at the FGC:

"Unattended children will be given espresso shots and puppies. To date, 14 puppies have been adopted here." and the 14 is actually a space of chalkboard that can be written on. The MOTG saw this sign and immediately corralled the Gremlin, having just seen an FGC employee walking around with a small portable kennel cage.

When You Gotta Go...

The Gremlin has been enrolled in yet another swimming class. While we haven't seen the original instructor after that class ended, swimming has enthralled the Gremlin to the point where he is able to locate, un-stow, take into the pool, and stand up on the surfboard. He also greatly enjoys climbing out of the pool, turning around, and jumping back into the pool.

So the other day he and his mother were at free swim. Attempting to at least try to keep him above water for an entire session, his mother was holding him under his arms, facing out, when she noticed that he had stopped kicking, splashing, everything.

Worried that something had happened, she turned him around. His eyes were closed and his head was lolling off to the side. She quickly swam to the side and pulled him out of the pool at which time he opened his eyes and said, "More swim, Mama?" and promptly ... fell back asleep. That's right, he had fallen asleep in the middle of the pool at 10am on a Saturday.

Ooooh! Big Bathtub!

At the Lincoln Park Zoo, there is a little-traveled pond with a man made waterfall. Occasionally, there are tours of this site (if you get the extended tour of the zoo), and that includes a tour of the waterfall. The guide takes everyone, including young children, up the rocks and over to the start of the waterfall.

I should preface this with a small anecdote about swimming. Though he was not 18 months before he joined the course, our little Gremlin has been participating in swimming classes for the last several weeks. (FYI - it's not a good idea to hold a child partially in the water, and encourage them to flap their arms. Those who know how to splash will end up soaking the instructor, and knocking his glasses off - which will result in a 10 minute delay of class while he searches for them, but also tries not to step on them while searching.) However, after the initial splashing phase, our little darling took to water like horns to a de.... uh, well, he likes it.

So when he was at the top of the waterfall, seeing the other children dangling their feet in the water, looking out over something that looked like a giant bathtub (complete with faucet), the inevitable occurred.

It was at this time that the Mother of the Gremlin stepped up. Having been honing her reflexes for approximately 18 months now, she immediately reacted to the situation. Her keen eye watched as our son leaped into the pond, and continued to eye him as he paddled - completely submerged - towards the faucet. Just as she was feeling compelled to possibly take action, he popped his head back up and took a deep breath as he continued towards the giant faucet.

Well, at least the swimming classes were a good investment... even if the instructor won't get anywhere near him anymore.

*Update* the pool instructor retired at the end of that winter session