The Family *roll

We took Eleanor swimming at the Carleton pool yesterday. It was a success: she didn’t poop herself, she laughed, she splashed and she got patches of exczema.

What was remarkable about the swim was observing the way she, step by step, decided to enjoy the whole swimming thing. Eleanor, like all babies, is nothing if not guileless and I love to watch as emotions fill her face and body as she experiences them. Her first feeling about the water was some combination of “WTF?” and “Cold Cold Cold Cold Cold”. She held her hands in tight fists, her lower lip trembled and she clung tight to us. She kept herself together, though, and after a couple of minutes transitioned into a more water-accepting stance, looking on with curiosity at the bathing-capped swimmers in other lanes. She cracked her first, if reluctant, smile after some energetic motorboat noises and dives from Dan and manic bopping from me. And then she discovered the pleasure of splashing and she broke into constant, easy smiles. Finally, she discovered the wonders of splashing and kicking and she went into full on giggle and wiggle mode.

In other news, the ceiling leak has stopped and it looks like our home insurance policy may pay for the ceiling repair (but not, oddly enough, the roofer who actually removed the giant hunk of melting ice that was causing the leak in the first place). However, it’s supposed to rain the coming days so I have pencilled in some anxiety and constant worrying about the roof over our heads.