Today Anni and I ventured out to run errands in the morning. You know dry cleaners, fill a prescription, mail some things, etc and it was so hot!!! I actually felt like I was melting but we had things to do so we suffered (ok, I am being melodramatic here). Anni was pretty fussy in the stroller but a few teddy grahams seemed to help her condition and we pressed on. Once we got home she hit full on meltdown. This is a term that before you have kids you have only a vague sense of its meaning. You know there must be general unhappiness and some crying but you really are clueless. Let me educate you: meltdowns for Anni involve general and unending tragedy in the form of crying no matter what she is presented with, making her dead monkey noises, and occasionally throwing stuff or pinching me. Lucky for me we had all of the above today. I tried to make her lunch to ease her pain but nothing helped. I think her ear is still bothering her (we have a recheck appointment on Friday). She was having none of her lunch so we hung out and I put her to bed early more to save my sanity.
After her all too short nap I decided I would load her up and take her swimming at the park district pool we have been to several times. I reasoned that the car ride hell she might have to experience would be forgiven once she saw the pool. So, we bravely took off and actually she was ok in the car as long as her music was playing turned up loudly with me singing along (she does not seem to care that I am tone deaf). I thought nothing of how incredibly dorky I looked until a couple of guys drove up in a pimped out car blaring “party like a rock star” and and laughed at me singing “Loves come a tumbling down” at the top of my lungs. We got there found a perfect parking spot right in front where Anni saw the pool and pointed and squirmed. Yeah we made it and this activity would keep her content until dinner time and Jason’s arrival home! We made our way inside and I looked over the desk and through the window at the pool and it was completely vacant. A free pool in Chicago in 90 degree weather: something was terribly wrong. At least I had the sense to ask a park district employee before beginning the ordeal of changing her into her swim diaper and suit. I located a women in a bright yellow shirt with a walkie- talkie (the automatic symbol that you are in charge or at least know what is going on). She looked frazzled. I asked if I read the schedule correctly “this is family swim right?” She replied “it is supposed to be but someone took a B.M. in the pool.” This immediately both disgusted me and made me laugh out loud. Although the women did not seem to find the situation as amusing. She explained that she called the engineer and was waiting for someone to clean it up and then reset the chemicals and all that could take 30 minutes to a hour. Annikah decided not to wait around. It wasn’t a total loss of a trip. I did take Anni outside to the playground and let her swing (she may have been wondering why we drove 10 minutes to a swing set when we have one around the corner). Another bonus was watching kids go in the park district building and then running out yelling various amusing (to a 4th grader or me) things like “ewww, someone dumped in the pool.” My day was not so bad at all. Jason is home now rocking the Tylenol filled Annikah to sleep and at least I did not have the job of telling scores of people looking to cool off in a refreshing free pool that there was indeed a B.M. in the pool.
okay, so read my blog later for a similar frustrating pool story from this afternoon. i am glad that you are still feeling like your day was not so bad after all. i am not there yet – maybe won’t be. but it feels good to know other mamas out there are working through the rough stuff. love ya!