11/05/02

Ah, kids. I haven’t really been around kids in about 15 years.  I never did much babysitting, and everyone’s little brothers and sisters are long since grown up.   In college I didn’t ever even see kids or babies.  It was really odd to see one downtown in Madison.  And none of my friends have any yet.

But here I’m getting a lot more exposure.  I’ve held a number of babies so far.  It’s really strange.  I don’t know how to hold babies.  I’m getting a little more comfortable.  There are a couple trainees in Choiseul with babies under a year.  One is this little guy Tristan.  I think he’s about 10 months old.  He’s just about to walkand I don’t know of a cuter kid.  He smiles more than any baby that I’ve ever seen.  I’m trying to get a picture of him, but his mother is a little funny about it.

I also work with small kids at swimming.  The youngest is Cameron, who’s 4.  There are maybe 4 or 5 others who are about 6: Clem, Aiden, Marcus and Nikell.  Grace is about 8, and Franny, Ronald and Derek are 10 or so.  At first it was weird to talk to them.   I was afraid of talking down to them while telling them what to do.  But then I realized that if I don’t just let them have it, they don’t know or care what’s going on. Now I feel more comfortable.  Sometimes they just sort of space out, so I have to holler for them to get with it.

Today was a little trying, but not as bad as some days.  Aiden and Cameron are my two wild guys.  They both are kind of rocket-powered and strong willed.  They don’t listen so well either.  Today it was just the two of them and Marcus, who is pretty good.  What’s tiring is that Cameron needs 99% of my attention alone.  He’s too little to touch the bottom of the pool and tends to sink.  At least he’s not afraid of the water, but I have to be next to him all the time to grab him if he lets go of the edge or his kickboard.  It’s usually an hour of wrestling at every practice.  Meanwhile, Aiden is all over the place, either swimming to the other end, or out of the pool and punching his other brother.  Marcus can usually listen, but he gets a little distracted sometimes.

What was funny today was some other kid who was hanging around.  I was waiting for all the kids to get there for my class, and some other kid came out of the pool all wet.  He was probably 4.  He kind of looks at me and says "I’m really cold".  He wasn't my responsibility and I was thinking "whatever", but he was making a big show of wrapping up in his towel.  I told him to come over so I gave him the towel-rub like mom does when you get out of the bathtub.  The kid was still making kind of a fuss, so I told him maybe he should change out of his suit.  So he went and got his clothes, brought them over to me and started taking off his suit.  Not something I’m really used to.  But the kid was pretty much oblivious, so I helped him into his little underoos, and he was fine.

I guess that’s what’s weird, that they don’t realize that I don’t have a clue.

Today after swimming we were all freezing! The water is warmer than the air, but all the kids’ lips were blue.