The timing of my daily trips to the community swimming pool almost always coincides with the hour of the 5 and 6 year-old girls' swimming class. Our daily encounters in the women's locker room has led to many curious and wide-eyed stares at my belly from inquiring little girls and has given rise to more than just a couple of terribly endearing and not-so-private "Where do babies come from?" mother-daughter discussions, some of which I think "hit home" with the little girls a bit more than others. (One girl flat-out refused to believe that there was actually a baby inside of me, denying the entire explanation with a resolute shaking of her head--I think she preferred the idea of the stork bringing the babies here to Mieres from Paris, as she had been told previously.)
There is one little girl in particular, Lucia, who is especially awed by my pregnancy. I think that she has never been in such close quarters with a pregnant woman before, and she can utterly not take her eyes off of my belly as her mother shampoos and bathes her/towels her off/dresses her/combs her hair, etc. The first day that we coincided in the locker room, Lucia's mother pointed to me and said "Look, that woman has a baby inside!" Lucia responded with visible excitement, "In her backpack?" (To her credit, I did have a large, red backpack with me in which one--or two, even?--small children could likely fit, so it wasn't such an illogical question on her part.) Once her mother explained that I, in fact, have a baby growing inside of me, the little girl was absolutely awestruck. She looked at me with wide eyes as though she had been told the world's most marvelous secret--not far from the truth, I would say. A few days later, Lucia was waiting in a line of children outside of the locker room, her mom at her side, to enter the pool area for her class. I passed her in my swimming suit and towel and as soon as she saw me she shrieked with excitement and exclaimed, "Look, Mom! The lady brought her baby with her again!!" I could not help but laugh with delight. I told her, "That's right--I couldn't just leave him at home." Lucia then turned knowingly to the girls in line with her and announced with glee, "That baby is going swimming!"
An hour later, while we were showering in the locker room, Lucia approached me on the sly and whispered, "But how did your baby learn how to swim?" (She, of course, being just now in the process of learning herself.) "He just knows," I said, "He follows me." She returned to her mother to think about it and finish getting dressed before approaching me one last time, nodding knowingly, and said, "Does the baby have to wear goggles, too?"
Children are wonderful.
2 comments:
AH! YIP YIP HOORAY!! This entry typifies exactly why you must always write this blog. Thank you for taking your valuable time and, more valuable, internet access to write this.
Oh, and if baby Leader-Canga does wear goggles in there, I need some tips because we cant get our 3.5 year old to wear hers.
Yes, I think that the goggles are a point of contention for many of the little girls here, too, at the hour of swimming class, hence Lucia's question. You are in good company.
Post a Comment