Second Trip to Guatemala - Part 3

The pool definitely became the central source of entertainment for our second trip to Guatemala. They both loved the pool. Nelson enjoyed walking off the underwater ledge of the baby pool into the big pool and feeling himself bob up and down like a cork in the safety of his swimming jacket with me or Jim close by to steady him. His little legs began cycling the instant his feet lost contact with the floor of the baby pool. There was no doubt in my mind that he was steadily learning how to swim. By the last day of our trip, Nelson had definitely mastered the modified version of the doggie paddle, peddling exclusively with his legs. With Jim’s careful supervision to steady him if he began to tip, Nelson made it all the way across the pool. He enjoyed “uno, dos, tres – ariba!” but enjoyed flying through the water like Superman just as much. And if I spun in the water while holding him, he inevitably arched his back only to smile as the back of his head skimmed the surface of the water.

Carolina on the other hand preferred to maneuver without the swimming jacket and instead delighted in being thrown in the air and splashing back down in the water. Carolina captured the attention of all the other hotel guests by insisting on a hands-free swim across the pool with mom – basically, with her holding on to me while I swam the breast-stroke across the pool. Everyone was mightily impressed. She learned to jump into my arms from the side of the baby pool and even to be dropped into Jim’s arms from the side of the adult pool. She could also entertain herself for long periods of time by emptying one cup full of water after another onto the surface of edge of the pool or hot tub. It seemed to me she was trying to get a solid, uninterrupted, smooth, reflective surface area, but inevitably, water would pool into some areas and leave others dry, warranting a fresh application of water to smooth out the surface again.

Mealtimes were also different from our first trip. They seemed much less interested in the food and much more interested in getting in and out their seats for a periodic game of chase and hide-and-go-seek or to take in a quick glimpse of the pool or fountain. Not exactly good table manners, but we figured there would time enough for that later. We relished the sound of their giggles and exclamations or surprise when we would catch them. I think we were generally a great source of entertainment to the other guests, either that or a great source of irritation. Ahh.. I’m going with the former.

In order to avoid the late nights we experienced on our first trip, we intentionally allowed the children to skip their nap. After a full day of playing in the pool and in the room, they were hungry and they were tired. We soon realized that while the one extreme of long naps and late nights were not good, the other extreme of no naps was also not the right approach. Poor Nelson was chewing his food one minute and the next, his sweet little head was slowly descending towards his plate – Jim caught him just in time! When we got them back upstairs, I began drawing them a bath so we could get them cleaned up and tucked in. Carolina still had her swimming suit on as she and I had made repeated trips to the swimming pool that day. After the somewhat tumultuous experiences with bath time on our last trip – particularly getting undressed to get into the bath – I conceded to her desire to keep her swimming suit on in the bath tub. For some reason, having her swimming suit on made her feel that like she was in the pool again. No sooner had she gotten into the tub then she laid down length-wise, began blowing bubbles, giggling as the water leaped out to tickle her nose and rolled over on her back to show us she could do that too! Nelson wasn’t far behind. We stripped him down and after some initial hesitation and calming reassurance from his sister and I, he let his inhibitions go and joined in the fun.