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Well, I made the mistake of trying to take the little boys swimming this afternoon. Alone. W. was supposed to meet me, but he managed to lose his weedeater--I know likely story, but he swears he did...it was just gone off the trailer when he got home. Anyhoo, we went over to SIL's to swim. Both of them loved it last yer, but after Jay's accident, we didn't swim anymore. It has made me ill to even be out by the pool, but I have pretty much gotten over my flashbacks. So, I had them in their swim seaters and each one had a float, too. He had been watching Five and Brittany swim and he laughed at them, so I had high hopes. They were dashed as soon as we went outside...he began to howl. Then Jay chimed in.Each one of them began to cling to me for dear life. I am sure it was comical to watch, but I felt like the wicked witch of the west. I took Jay and put him in the pool on the step in his boat. He went nuts. He grabbed me and wouldn't let go, so I sat with him. Sam is crying from the door and yelling for me, Jane, Daddy, Honey, anyone who will listen (we don't know who Honey is, BTW, but he calls for him/her when no one else comes). Anna, my neice, brought him to me and I sat him in my lap. I am sure the neighbors thought I was scalping him. He shrieked as soon as his foot hit the water. I realized what a bad idea this was (quick, aren't I) and tried to hand him back to Anna. No way. He wasn't going. Then I tried to stand up. Jay went ballistic. He grabbed at me (reminding me how much his fingernails need to be trimmed) and yelled, "I can't swim, I can't swim." It was pitiful. I finally just sat back down. Sam calmed down as long as I had my arm firmly around him and his feet were digging into my leg.

After what seemes like an eternity, Jay loosened up. He even let me turn his boat around so he could watch Five jumping off the board. Sam was in a near catatonic state. He fixated on the big kids jumping, but any move I made sent him into a rigor mortis-like state. Finally, finally, finally, I convinced Jay to let me get up enough to lift Sam out of the pool and Sam agreed to be put on the side. His feet hit the pavement and he tore a blue streak to SIL. He grabbed he by the legs and began telling her, "water, water, water" and pointing at me. Then he screamed for a towel and let her bundle him up and cuddle for about a minute before he was consoled with a pretzel.

Jay warmed up to it so much that he wanted to get off the steps. We decided that he would have to wait until I was in there and could give him my full attention. A juice box loured him out.Bribery is a good thing, isn't it?