Lucy went swimming for the first time last week! Here's a picture of us all ready for the pool. We couldn't actually take any pictures in the pool, because this pool is on lock down. More on that later!
We went to the pool with two of my mama friends, one of Lucy's baby friends, and our tiny fetus friend. I wasn't sure what Lucy would think of the water...it was pretty cold! When we waded in and Lucy's feet touched the water, she gave me a look of "I don't know about this, lady." And she looked SO surprised when we went in up to her shoulders! We warmed up quickly, though, and soon she was smiling and splashing. I wish we had pictures!
Well, here's a picture of the pool when it opened it 1936. It looks the same now, except it's in color.
Yesterday we went to the pool again, and this time we took Tim. Since it was a weekend, the pool was much more crowded. There must have been hundreds of people there. Tim mentioned that it felt exactly like going to the pool in prison. Here's how it went down.
When we got to the park, there was a line to get into the pool. A parks employee walked up and down the line, yelling at the people waiting, and telling the group of teenage boys in front of us that she had her eyes on them. Before we could go into the locker rooms, they checked our bags and made us show them our swimsuits. I took Lucy into the ladies room, where mean-looking women monitored us at every turn, saying things like, "Ladies, don't throw your sanitary towels into the toilets!" Tim said that in the men's locker room, they make the guys shake out their towels to ensure that they're not bringing in weapons!
We got into the water and had a wonderful time. Lucy had so much fun splish splashing and kicking her feet like the most adorable baby duck ever. It was super crowded, and at one point Tim yelled at some teenagers who rough-housed too close to Lucy.
Right after we got out of the pool, the life guards started blowing their whistles and making everyone leave the pool. The cops even came out of their on-site police station to do crowd control as the hundreds of people all returned to the locker rooms at once. I wondered why a pool needed an on-site police station, until I read about the "Astoria Pool Melee of 2006" when I was looking for that snazzy photo above. Apparently, a small riot broke out in line for the pool when the parks employees didn't tell the people waiting for hours on line that the pool was closed. Someone threw a bottle that hit a little girl, the parks employees used some racial slurs, and the swimsuit vendor's stand was ransacked. Wow!
So back to our trip to the pool...it turned out that someone had pooped in the pool, and that's why everyone was evacuated. Gross!
While I was getting me and Lucy changed and ready to leave, a group of girls was watching us. The youngest girl, who was about 8 years old, pointed to me and asked what was on my body. I told her stretch marks and spider veins. Her sisters were terribly embarassed, and literally covered her mouth as she tried to ask more questions about my bizarro post-partum skin. Sigh. I have the kind of body that makes 8 year old girls ask questions! Also, my hair is falling out and making what Tim calls "seaweed" in the tub. When he took a bath with Lucy to rinse off the cholorine (and the feces of an anonymous Queens resident), a whole forest of my hairs wafted gently up from the non-slip bath mat. It really did look like a bed of seaweed. Depressing, but magical!
Well, here's a picture of the pool when it opened it 1936. It looks the same now, except it's in color.
Yesterday we went to the pool again, and this time we took Tim. Since it was a weekend, the pool was much more crowded. There must have been hundreds of people there. Tim mentioned that it felt exactly like going to the pool in prison. Here's how it went down.
When we got to the park, there was a line to get into the pool. A parks employee walked up and down the line, yelling at the people waiting, and telling the group of teenage boys in front of us that she had her eyes on them. Before we could go into the locker rooms, they checked our bags and made us show them our swimsuits. I took Lucy into the ladies room, where mean-looking women monitored us at every turn, saying things like, "Ladies, don't throw your sanitary towels into the toilets!" Tim said that in the men's locker room, they make the guys shake out their towels to ensure that they're not bringing in weapons!
We got into the water and had a wonderful time. Lucy had so much fun splish splashing and kicking her feet like the most adorable baby duck ever. It was super crowded, and at one point Tim yelled at some teenagers who rough-housed too close to Lucy.
Right after we got out of the pool, the life guards started blowing their whistles and making everyone leave the pool. The cops even came out of their on-site police station to do crowd control as the hundreds of people all returned to the locker rooms at once. I wondered why a pool needed an on-site police station, until I read about the "Astoria Pool Melee of 2006" when I was looking for that snazzy photo above. Apparently, a small riot broke out in line for the pool when the parks employees didn't tell the people waiting for hours on line that the pool was closed. Someone threw a bottle that hit a little girl, the parks employees used some racial slurs, and the swimsuit vendor's stand was ransacked. Wow!
So back to our trip to the pool...it turned out that someone had pooped in the pool, and that's why everyone was evacuated. Gross!
While I was getting me and Lucy changed and ready to leave, a group of girls was watching us. The youngest girl, who was about 8 years old, pointed to me and asked what was on my body. I told her stretch marks and spider veins. Her sisters were terribly embarassed, and literally covered her mouth as she tried to ask more questions about my bizarro post-partum skin. Sigh. I have the kind of body that makes 8 year old girls ask questions! Also, my hair is falling out and making what Tim calls "seaweed" in the tub. When he took a bath with Lucy to rinse off the cholorine (and the feces of an anonymous Queens resident), a whole forest of my hairs wafted gently up from the non-slip bath mat. It really did look like a bed of seaweed. Depressing, but magical!
Thanks for your comment on my blog. I am definitely considering buying or making a mei tai style carrier, and thinking about the moby, too. Would 13lb Cora be too heavy for something stretchy, though?
ReplyDeleteLucy looks a lot like my Cora. And it's funny--Lucy was one of my name suggestions, too.
I know what you mean about the hair--mine is EVERYwhere!