The Pool

I have been looking forward to letting Evan try out his swimming pool as an actual outdoor pool instead of an indoor ball pit for the last month, but it's either been too cool outside, or raining, every weekend since I got it. FINALLY, the conditions seemed right today. However, when I plugged in the little electric pump to inflate the pool, Evan started screaming and crying frantically at the noise. So Tom took it down stairs to his den and finished inflating it. He then went outside to mow the grass and I went to the den to inflate the separate sun canopy. I could hear Evan still fussing in the kitchen so I left the pump running unattended (I know, bad idea!) and ran back upstairs. I was dressing him in his swim diaper, trunks and t-shirt when I suddenly heard a horrible shrieking noise coming from the den. I plopped the little half-dressed, screeching baby in his play pen and when I got downstairs, I discovered that the pump had flopped over in the pool and was writhing around and there was a burnt rubber smell in the room. I turned it off and unplugged it, and when Tom tried to operate it again a little later, he said it I had killed it. Sigh.

So later we took the pool outside, without the canopy, and I started filling it up with water in a pitcher from the kitchen sink. At this point, I had Evan riding in his little swing in the kitchen while I got everything together, and he started crying again because he didn't want to be in the swing. Finally, everything was ready and I plopped him down (still crying and fussing) in his pool for the first time. It only took him about 2 seconds to figure out that he LOVED this, and he got a huge grin on his face and then started splashing like a madman. So after all that hooplah, it was still worth it in the end. (Phew.)