my date with Nicholas

Nicholas is in swimming lessons this summer.

He loves them.

Well, let me rephrase that.

He is scared, crying, refuses to get in, and screams for me when he's in. For the first five minutes.

But then, he starts swimming and stops crying,

and when he gets out of the pool, he's beaming and laughing and shouting "Thank you!" to his teachers.

And for the rest of the day, he's telling me how much he loves swimming, and how he wants to swim forever.

Until we get back to the pool the next day, when the cycle repeats.

On Monday I thought I'd try to help by taking the kids to a nearby community pool.

It was crowded, Ellie was nervous about the strangers, and she refused to leave the steps.

Nicholas paddled around nearby, but I knew he'd have more fun if he could go farther. 

So after Kent got home from work, I took Nicholas back, just the two of us.

It was wonderful. The pool was nearly empty, the sun was setting, and Nicholas swam and swam and swam back and forth for almost two hours.  He and I had so much fun together.

 We finished the night with a special treat from the concessions stand.  

 I think we're going to make parent/child date nights a regular thing.  With all the daily tasks and work we have to do, with the day-to-day discipline and other correction that needs to be done, it's hard for me to feel like I'm connecting heart-to-heart with my kids like I want to.  They need to know that they are valued and important. And really, we just need to have this kind of fun together.