Cora Dips Her Toes In

Wednesday, Cora and I went down to Berwyn to hang out with my college roommate Jenny and her four-month-old, Ben.

It was a great time. Cora was a little out of sorts that day, but still managed to squeeze in some fun.

They also live only a couple of blocks from a terrific public children's pool, so after arriving and chatting for a bit, we headed over there. The pool is maybe two feet at its deepest, and then goes down to zero depth and has this great play structure in the middle, which includes lots of different kinds of waterfalls and fountains. We were also lucky enough to have a very nice day for our outing--hot enough for swimming but not too hot, and the pool was busy but not overcrowded.

Here we've just arrived. Jenny is helping Ben, and Cora is eying the water. At first Cora was none too pleased about the water. She was okay with me holding her and walking around in the water, but any dipping and swirling of her feet or touching of the fountains caused a face identical to this one to appear:

That didn't last long, however, and after a little time to get acclimated, she changed her mind. Ben is one mellow dude and was aces either way--in the water, out of the water, "Hey, whatever you ladies want to do is all right with me."

We found a place to settle in along the edge, where if you sit on the bottom of the pool, the water comes up maybe around your ribcage--perfect depth for holding a baby on your lap. Cora decided this was fine, and even fun. A little splashing, a little bouncing, a little of Cora standing with her feet on the bottom and the water up to her armpits, and she got the picture that this was like bath time except way better.

Eventually Ben's chin started wobbling with the shivers, and Cora started making That Face again, so we headed home. After we changed clothes, two pruney-toed little babies took naps, and Jenny's husband, William, came home, and made the three of us lunch. Yay for grown-up talk!

A while later, after the kids woke up, William took some post-pool snapshots before Cora and I headed home. (Both kids have sunblock in their hair.)

Thanks to Jenny and William and Ben for having us over--hopefully we will get together again soon!