Today was a big, big day for Maya! It started early this morning, around 4:30am. I went into Maya's room to change her diaper after Will finished feeding her a bottle. I noticed that her sweatpants were off and laying in her crib. Hmmm.... weird. Will takes bottle detail, and I have diaper detail. I couldn't figure out why Will would have taken off Maya's pants. Maybe she felt hot or something. I didn't know. So, I asked, "Did you take off Maya's jammie pants?" To which he replied, "No, I thought you took them off the last time you changed her diaper." NOPE. That left only one explanation... the little Houdini wriggled herself right out of her pajama pants! Oh, my goodness, we both cracked up laughing. She's an active little bugger, but I never thought she would be able to take her own pants off! Oh, boy, just wait until she REALLY figures out how to take off her clothes!She FINALLY went back to sleep, only to wake up again around 7:00am. I actually thought that would be great because we had her first swimming lesson at 10:30am, so that would give her enough time to be up for a little while, then go back to bed for a nap before we had to leave for the Y. Apparently, Maya had other plans. I laid her back down in her crib at 8:20am, and at 9:25am, Will brought her back downstairs. She had played in her crib for the entire hour. I hoped she wouldn't be a bear during swimming lessons!
We got to the Y and went to the family changing room, so I could change Maya into her swim diaper and swimsuit. She wore a little blue reusable swim diaper with bright pink flamingos on it, and over that, she sported a bright red suit with white anchors all over it. She looked adorable!! We headed to the pool and sat in a chair, waiting for the lessons to begin. Maya was looking around, and I could see the excitement and anticipation growing on her face. She was in a new place with new smells and new kids, wearing new weird clothes. She knew something was going on, even if she wasn't exactly sure what that something was just yet. It wasn't long before the teacher arrived, and we were instructed to get in the pool. We walked down the stairs, into the lukewarm/warm water. I started to bob up and down in the water, holding tight to Maya, so she wouldn't be scared. It only took one look at her face to know that fear was not a feeling she was experiencing at the moment. She had a look of pure joy on her face. She was lit up like a Christmas tree! Within seconds, she was screaming and squealing with delight. She smiled big and splashed wildly with both of her hands, sending drops of water, both big and small, flying through the air and onto our faces. She LOVED it!
The whole goal of the class is to get Maya comfortable with being in the water. We were supposed to use toy boats to pour water out of like little waterfalls, which would have been a great idea if I could have pried the little boat out of Maya's hand! She was completely convinced that it was a chew toy. I floated her around in the water on her belly while she gnawed away at the plastic boat. We were also given inflated beach balls to push around in the water. This worked really well because the ball was so big that Maya couldn't really grab onto it. Every time she touched it, it would float farther out of her reach. Next, we spent some time evaluating Maya's comfort level while laying on her back in the water. I reclined her back, so that her head was resting on my shoulder while I held up the rest of her little body. She was a little hesitant at first, but in no time, she settled right back and played with the little boat that I had placed on her belly. What a brave little munchkin! I used to teach swimming lessons, and most kids are very uncomfortable on their backs. I was so proud of her! It really meant a lot to me that she would relax like that because it takes a great deal of trust to be comfortable in such a vulnerable position. Our next assignment was to blow bubbles. Since Maya was a bit too little for this task, I blew bubbles in the water while she watched. I was shocked and amazed at one point when she put her mouth in the water! Of course, no bubbles were blown, but putting her mouth in the water was a big step! Then we had one big group activity that included singing several different songs with actions like "If You're Happy and You Know It..." and two other ones that I had never heard before. We also played a game that involved fetching small plastic balls that were floating in the middle of the pool. Maya liked these balls because they were just the right size for her to hang onto very easily.
The last activity we did in class was "jumping in" from the wall. I placed Maya up on the wall, where she stood, dripping wet, with her little bare toes gripping the bumpy plastic grate. I held under her arms to help her maintain balance to stand. Her eyes were wide with excitement as I began to count, "One, two,... three!" On "three", I picked her up and flew her high into the air, then back down into the water. She screamed with delight! I lifted her out, put her back on the wall, and began to count again. While I counted, she started to "bounce" with her legs. Those little legs looked like they were about 6 inches long. They were so tiny, with one little roll at the top of each thigh, peaking out of the bottom of her little bitty swimsuit. She bent her knees and prepared to "jump", bouncing with uncoordinated shaky little leg movements. We "jumped" in again and again. It seemed like each jump solicited an even bigger response than the last. At the end of class, we ventured over to the beach entry area of the pool, where Maya could crawl around in the water all by herself. She had a blast! There were lots of kids and moms from class there, and she made her way around to visit each of them. The being in the water, essentially by herself, didn't seem to phase her one bit. I had to direct her crawling a little because she would start to get in too deep. Once she got in to a certain level, her butt would start to float, just like Ruby's used to at the lake! It was so funny. She just didn't have quite enough weight to keep her grounded. Everyone was amazed at her crawling. I think every mom there asked me her age. They were all shocked when I told them she's only 7 months. It's so funny to see people's responses to her. She's so tiny that people just don't expect her to be so active and mobile. I finally had to take her out of the water to get dried off and into some warm clothes. I think she would have stayed in all day!
Our biggest challenge with the trip was getting her and I showered and back into dry clothes. Thank goodness, Will was there to help this week. By the time we got to the changing room, Maya was getting cold. She started crying as soon as she was out of the shower and didn't stop until she was fully dressed and playing with Will. I don't know what I'm going to do next week because Will's not going to be there to help us. I guess we'll just skip the showers, hurry up, and get dry and dressed. We'll worry about washing off the pool water after we get home. Hopefully that will make a difference. Even with the post-swimming lesson issues, I can't wait to go back next week! Maya and I had so much fun. I'm SO thankful that she likes the water. My hopes are that she'll be a natural water-bug. Will and I love swimming, boating, and being in water, so we are hope she will love those things, too. Since we will be living by the lake shore, we'll be spending LOTS of time in the lake and at the beach! I think it's important to expose her to water early. It's never too early to learn to love and respect the water!
While at the pool today, I noticed a little shiny white speck in Maya's mouth, along her bottom gum line. When we got home, I put my finger in her mouth to feel her gums where I suspected there to be a new tooth about to pop through. Sure enough, there was a sharp little point. The edge of her tooth had already erupted. While I was feeling around on that tooth, Maya closed her mouth and bit down on my finger. I didn't expect it to hurt, since one-sided bites generally don't cause too much pain, but what I didn't know was that I was about to make another discovery. She bit down, and OUCH!!! I found a new TOP tooth! She had sprouted not one, but TWO teeth! Now she has 4 teeth on the bottom and 1 on the top! Everyone had asked me if she was teething because of all this pooping/butt rash business. I had checked SEVERAL times, and I never felt anything that caused me to be suspicious of her teething! I guess I was wrong! Maybe that was the cause of these last 2 weeks of torture. If that's true, I sure hope the next tooth doesn't cause the same reaction! We can only take so much of that business!
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