The other day, I rushed home from work to take Eleanor to her club swim meet. Tom was taking Ethan to hockey, and Rebecca was going to spend the evening with her dad, so Siobhan came with me to the pool.
As I said, I was in a rush, so I threw a few diapers, a change of clothes, and a snack in diaper bag and ran out the door. What I didn’t bring was anything to entertain Siobhan while Eleanor was swimming... for 2 hours.
I guess that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing if the bleachers at the pool weren’t right beside the water without any barrier between us and the pool. Even that wouldn’t be so bad if Siobhan didn’t absolutely love to be in water and play with water, but neither of those things are true.
I did manage to convince Siobhan that only Eleanor was going swimming, but how was I going to keep her entertained long enough that I could actually pay attention to Eleanor’s meet? I had no idea. My iPhone is no longer a novelty for her.
I found a seat at the back of the bleachers near a window (beside a vent blowing cool air, thank goodness; it was freaking hot in there). Then I handed Siobhan my purse to see what she would find to play with.
And what to my wondering eyes should appear? All the business cards that I had collected at Blissdom Canada. She loved them! She sat for 45 minutes sorting through them, stacking them, handing them to me and taking them back. She would spread them out on the seat and then put them back in my purse. Interestingly, she picked one that she would not give to me, nor would she put it back in my purse, and if I tried to take it she would say “Mine”. I guess she really likes @KelliDaisy.
Siobhan would stop and clap or cheer when everyone else did, but for the most part, she just played, and I was able to watch Eleanor take first place in the front crawl.
Afterwards, we met up with Tom, his brother, Ethan, Rebecca and her dad for a little celebration at Kelsey’s. There Siobhan played with ice cubes... who needs toys?
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