Emily’s Musings

It was FREEZING yesterday. Not literally, of course, but 73°F is DANG COLD to us near the equator! We had all the windows closed and thought (just a thought) about snuggling up in a blanket and drinking hot chocolate when Hannah started saying “OFF!!!” again and again. We weren’t really sure what her problem was until she started taking her shirt off. David insisted she wear her shirt (something about not raising an exhibitionist) and I insisted we let her take it off. I don’t care if she wants to run around the house in a diaper, or change her shirt, pants, or shoes 20 times a day. Hey, I did that as a kid and look at me! I’m a nice, normal contributor to society. Since I am prego, you can guess who won that disagreement.

You should have seen the look on Hannah’s face when she was stripped down to her diaper and shoes. Where was the DANG CAMERA? She was so cute. Take my word for it. After examining her darling belly in the full length mirror, she was pretty pleased with her new found nakedness. Still confused as to why this child would take off her clothing on such a COLD DAY, she started to say “SWING!”. However, I knew she couldn’t possibly mean “swing” as in the swing at the park because she wasn’t signing swing at the same time she was exclaiming her desire to “SWING!” She then pulled out her swimming suit from the closet and tried to put it on. Did you know that “swimming” and “swing” sound a lot alike? Because I never realized that until she so frantically tired to explain the desires of her heart.

We put her suit on and she walked to to the door and said “swing” again. Like we might have forgotten what she wanted to do in the last 10 seconds or something. We went next door to Shannon’s house (she has a pool) and asked to dip Hannah’s feet in the water. Since we knew Hannah would NOT WANT TO SWIM IN FREEZING COLD WATER, we thought this would do the trick. Now keep in mind, neither David or I have on bathing suits, because it was so cold. I was secretly wishing I had the forethought to put a jacket on when we went next door and Shannon came out to greet us all bundled up.

Here’s the deal. I don’t think kids have the ability to care about how cold water is when they are having a good time. The wind chill certainly did not stifle her desire to hop in and out and jump up and down in the water. David and I were both trying to lift our jaws up off the floor while she was frolicking in the pool in FREEZING COLD WEATHER. We would have grabbed our camera if we actually thought she was going to get in, but we certainly didn’t think our child was that determined to swim in crazy cold water.

We had to finally extract her from the pool when she was shivering with blue lips. You know, David mentioned something like “mild hypothermia” and I thought, “Hey yeah. That doesn’t sound good.” So out she came kicking and screaming. She was mostly mad at me because apparently I MUST HAVE BEEN THE BAD PARENT THAT INSISTED A LONG DOSE OF COLD WATER WASN’T GOOD. She was not happy.

We have since hidden her little bikini because I do not want to hear the disappointment in her little cry when I try to explain IT’S TOO COLD OUTSIDE.