The annual fourth of July party was for the most part a good time. I took Kate swimming, we ate very yummy food, we chatted with friends and Kate marched all over and danced to the music.

Unfortunately in the middle of the party, while we were eating, Kate managed to do one of those lightning-fast toddler movements that catch you completely off-guard, snagged a cup of hot water (steamers were being served), and dumped it down her front. There was screaming (from her). There was panicking (from us). There was a crowd and us jumping in the pool with her and stripping her naked in said pool and holding her there while she fought and sobbed. Thankfully it was just her belly, not her face or hands or diaper area…. but said belly was red. It was so frightening to just sit there in the pool, holding my crying child, and not only be unable to fix it but not even know how bad it was going to be.

Very very luckily Kate is just fine. Once we deemed the redness faded enough we took her out of the pool and carefully dried her off, which immediately fixed most of her upset. Once we put a new diaper and sandals on her and let her walk around she rubbed away her tears and started pointing and babbling softly, just like normal. An hour later the redness was gone and we were feeling like we just narrowly escaped disaster.

Swimming with Kate is fun, but a little frustrating for me. With how much she loves baths I really thought she’d love swimming more than she does, but she’s quite overwhelmed by the concept – and is NOT a fan of any form of cool water. As soon as I go in the water with her she grabs tightly to my arm and whimpers. She does relax a bit after being in for a little while, but it’s far from the “ooohhh, water!!” reaction I was hoping for. She doesn’t like being swished around in the water, she wants to be firmly attached to my body. She hates being splashed, other kids jumping in and splashing around make her panic. She will lunge for the edge if I get close enough, and will pull herself out. She tries to run off on me, but will turn around and pretend to “jump” back in (she squats at the edge so I can grab her and swoosh her into the water). That game she actually does find fun, which is a good start. We put her in a baby float in the pool and she actually seemed more relaxed in that than when she was just in the pool with me – I think she feels more “safe” and enclosed. She was kicking her feet a little bit, sticking her hands in the water, even leaning forward to slurp at the water.

After she was done with swimming I changed her into a dry diaper and let her walk around. Which she did, for a little bit, until she went right back to the pool and started climbing down the steps into the water. I was so torn – I was so happy she was voluntarily getting in the water so I wanted to encourage her to keep doing it, but dude I just put a dry diaper on her! If I put a swim diaper on her then I know she would just pee all over me. (Apparently swimming with toddlers is an all-or-nothing deal, given the diaper situation.) So she had a soggy butt for a while. She would sit at the edge, scoot forward, put her feet in the water, stand up on the first step, sit down on the first step, stick her feet into the deeper water of the second step… then she’d move as if to stand on the second step, then change course, turn around, and climb back up the stairs and out of the pool. Then she’d walk another lap around the yard and return to do it again.

Kate loves music and loves to dance. It was just one of those things that she randomly started doing, bouncing her little butt to music. At the party there was a DJ and music blasting out through speakers. Every time she walked in front of his table she’d stop and boogie for a little bit before moving on. I’d egg her on, saying, “Dance, Kate! Dance, dance!” and she’d bob some more, then clap her hands. The DJ thought it was hilarious. (So did I!) Later in the evening when she was sleepy and I was wearing her in the mei tai, as I was standing chatting with my SIL listening to the music, Kate started bouncing up and down in the mei tai. Guess even babywearing doesn’t stop the rhythm!

The fourth of July party always runs late into the night, most people dropping their kids off at a sitter’s for the night and returning for the evening. We didn’t have that option, we had Kate with us the entire time, so we just took it one step at a time; if she freaked out and needed to go to bed then we’d leave. Right around her bedtime she started getting really sleepy, but was content to cuddle with Den or I. I passed her off to him because she’s getting heavy. Very soon she was asleep on his chest and he was giving me a look that said, What do we do now?! We were flummoxed for a bit until Den told me to go get the carseat. At first I looked at him like he was crazy – we don’t use an infant seat anymore, we have the big MyRide in the truck. But I unlatched it from the truck and lugged it into the pool house where we were all gathered and put it in a darker corner. Den carefully tipped her back to sit in the seat; she wiggled around to get comfortable and stayed asleep for half an hour, right there in the middle of the party. It was such a brilliant idea – the carseat is a familiar place to her, and a place that she frequently sleeps. We didn’t disturb her to buckle her in, I just sat beside her the whole time and chit-chatted with friends until she woke up.

After she woke we hung around for another two hours, Kate calm and quiet in the mei tai, just chilling and watching. We finally left at 10pm and Kate went straight down in her crib. She did wake up at 2am and 6am, but then she slept in until 10am! She was a little bit whiny-tired the next day, but we just put her to bed early. It’s definitely times like that when I am thankful we have such a flexible child!