Her first class was yesterday, and she was excited all to pieces about it. It's a half-hour class, four days a week for two weeks. By the end of it, they're supposed to be able to swim at least five feet by themselves.
(She's three and a half feet tall -- she can go five feet just by stretching out and kicking twice. But I guess they have to start somewhere.)
I was a little uncertain about how the schedule would work out: the class is from 5:45 to 6:15, and it's on the same side of town as the daycare where she and Alex are. The daycare closes at 6, so we can't leave Alex there until the swimming classes are over, and letting him run around the Y while she's in class isn't really a viable option. The Y's childcare also closes at 6. Also, if Alex doesn't get dinner by 6:15, he turns into a screaming bundle of fury. Matt gets off work at 4:30, but I usually work until 5:30, and it's a 20-minute drive from my office to the Y. Oh, and on bath nights, Penny needs to have her bath before she eats, or the warm water makes her insulin absorb too quickly and she ends up with a wicked low-and-then-high cycle.
Ug. I finally just conceded defeat: I'm leaving work half an hour early, and we're all having sandwiches for dinner. Matt picks the kids up, I meet them at the Y, and then one of us stays with Penny for her class and the other one takes Alex home. It means I'm spending a ridiculous amount of time driving back and forth to that side of town (once in the morning to drop the kids off, once for Penny's swim lessons, and once for either my allergy shot or my own time at the gym -- which cannot be combined with Penny's class, no matter how I try to juggle the schedule). But on the plus side, I'm not burning vacation time for it, since Penny being in daycare rather than regular school means I can be at work by 8 instead of 8:30.
And it's only for two weeks, and then we'll have a breather until I get her signed up for the next level class. It's an annoyance, but swimming is one of those things that I consider an non-optional life skill: she will get lessons until I've seen her swim one full standard length without having to touch bottom or hang onto anything for support. (I do not care about her form; this is solely a question of basic safety. If she wants to join the swim team and learn the perfect butterfly -- punishing and pointless as the stroke is -- that's up to her.)
Anyway, yesterday went more smoothly than I expected it to, despite my accidentally giving Penny's sandwich to Matt. There's some room for efficiency improvement, but I expect we'll get that worked out in short order. And it's worth it, after all. Like I said, she's excited all to pieces.
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