Swimming

Mondays and Wednesdays are swimming days around here. Both Davan and I swim both days. I swim from 11:45 to 1:00. Davan swims from 1:00 to 2:00. Both days I pack lunches, but the schedules are different.

On Mondays Davan gets a ride to the pool from Girl Scouts with a friend who also swims. She eats lunch in the car on the way to swimming. Mondays are nice for me because I get out, shower and then eat my packed lunch while I watch Davan swim. We leisurely make our way home in time to meet Max off the bus at 2:40.

Wednesdays involve more of a rush. Well, sort of. We leave later in the morning because we don't have to go to Girl Scouts first, but then the rest of the time is much more rushed. Davan hangs out with the children of the Wednesday swim coach. She has a little boy who is 2 and a little girl who is 5. The 5 year old goes to kindergarten, but thanks to our wacky Wednesdays in the local school district, she is out of school every other Wednesday and comes to swimming. Davan always packs stuff to play with the two kids. When the 5 year old won't be there, she packs a bunch of books to read to the 2 year old. She quite enjoys the time, which is great because she complained bitterly the first couple of times she had to go to swimming with me on Wednesdays.

In between playing, Davan eats lunch. If the other two didn't bring snacks, I don't know if she'd ever be able to tear herself away to eat, but, luckily, they do. She goes to the locker room about quarter to 1:00 to get ready for her swim class.

When my swimming is over at 1:00, I jump out of the pool, do a quick towel dry, throw clothes on over my wet swim suit and race home so I'll be here by the time Max gets home about 1:15. I shower at home, then gather up Max, his entertainment and snack and my lunch and head back to the pool. Luckily, the pool is only about 5 minutes drive away. Still, I'd rather not have the running back and forth. I'd like it if Max had a regular day on Wednesday, but, there it is.

Davan loves swimming and even tries to come up with ways to practice at home. She was just standing here, bent over at the waist, doing the freestyle stroke. She thought through things she needs to work on and came up with ways to practice. One method involved laying on the couch with her legs hanging off the edge and with a book on her knees. This was to practice breast stroke kick without pulling her knees up. I'm glad she likes swimming so much.

Me, though, I'm having thoughts about quitting. I like it fine, but I don't love it. It's a bit expensive for me to do it without loving it. I'm thinking about taking Davan's class with her instead, but then I'd have to come up with some plan for Max on Wednesdays. While Davan's swim class is a lot cheaper, paying for baby sitting isn't.

What I'd really like to do is take gymnastics. There is only one place near here that offers gymnastics for adults. Apparently, the cost of insurance sky rockets for the over 21 set, which makes it cost prohibitive for most gyms. The gym that offers adult classes is about a half an hour away and is in the evenings. I don't know if I can fit it in.

I'm considering a martial arts class. I've done a little of this before and enjoyed it. I also know that I enjoy working on the forms between classes, so I think this would be a good solution. There's a local place that offers day time classes that I could take on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which would be good for the schedule.

Really, I think I'd like to do both the martial arts and Davan's swimming classes, but then I have to figure out what to do about Wednesday with Max. He doesn't have a friend that he swaps playdates with yet. It's only an hour that I need....what to do, what to do.