Wading Pool Fun

I took Skyler to my nana's today for lunch. She made us delicious homemade mince and tatties. It's a simple Scottish dish, but it's my favourite comfort food so I was delighted. As was Skyler, he stuffed his face with fist after fist of ground beef, mashed potatoes and peas. We had walked to my nan's and it was a nice 26 degrees celcius outside (so a bit warm, not sure what that is in farenheit 90 something I think?) and I was feeling the heat. It's 4.2 km away from me, not sure what that is in miles, but it's a fair walk. It's a good thing she has air conditioning. We stayed and chatted for a bit until Skyler started to get tired then we headed back into the heat for a walk so he could take a nap in the stroller.From my nan's we walked a bit and then went to a nearby park with a wading pool.

I was excited about taking Skyler to the wading pool for the first time this year. We had taken him last year but he was so little that he didn't really do anything there. This time he was interested and engaged. I was a bit frazzled from walking so long in the heat and I wasn't quite thinking when I changed him into his swim diaper and trunks and just plopped him into the water. He was pretty mad at me, and I don't blame him. I picked him up and put him on my lap and we sat that way for a while until he was ready to dip his toes in. Then he wanted to stand, and was content like that for a while, standing in the water, kicking it and holding onto my legs just barely.

It was then that I heard a girl next to us talking to her friend "Look at his eyes!" I heard this a few times as the girls talked to each other, pointing at my baby. I must say normally the younger ones don't bother me much and I can handle it easily. Today though I guess the heat had gotten to me and the girls were older, about 9 or so (I'm used to the kinder/grade 1 crowd). I found myself saying very bluntly over the sound of the rushing water "He's blind." Their parents were nowhere to be seen. The girl who had been pointing simply said "Oh." then she turned back to her friend and I turned back to my baby and I heard her say to her friend "Oh I feel so bad for him!" a few times. I basically rolled my eyes to myself and muttered that he was fine.

They wandered back into the pool and went swimming. A little while later the girl came back and now she had some actual questions about whether or not he could see anything at all, and she told he me was cute. I admit that then I softened. I really don't mind when kids come and ask questions. It was the staring, pointing and talking about him that got to me. I was glad to answer her questions and she brought a little girl (who looked about two) to come and sit by us and was much nicer, telling the little girl to look at the cute baby. That I didn't mind. I also had another odd experience today when some guy rode past me on a bike and said "Hello mama. Beautiful." as he went by. Ew. Totally creepy.


After a little while of sitting there at the edge of the pool, C got off work (he's working days today and tomorrow) at about 4 and came to meet us at the park since it's right by his work. He even brought us some food and the picnic blanket. Skyler got much more interested in the water when daddy showed up and I took out the camera to take some pictures of him wading for the first time and playing with the water. All in all it was a lovely Friday with my family by the pool.