Note to self

Never ever promise your kids or even remotely suggest a fun trip simply to get them to stop playing a harmonica in your ear.
I did this last week.
The harmonica normally doesn't bother me, but after a while of non-stop "mum, listen to this", interspersed with a 3 yr old whining "He's not sharing that harmonica with me", it began to grate on my nerves.
In fact my last nerve was slowly being eroded by said harmonica - did I mention how loud it is at a distance of 14 centimetres away from your ear?
I admit that I caved, and did something completely selfish, I just wanted the high pitched tinny noise to STOP.
My 'suggestions' of playing with Leapsters, and even letting them watch as many Backyardigan episodes on DVD as they wanted didn't hold a candle to the allure of a very loud, very annoying musical instrument.
Ok ok, I have a confession to make, I DO like watching the Backyardigans myself. easily the cutest kids show on TV, but shhhhhh don't tell anyone - and especially don't tell anyone that my husband likes watching it too.....

but I digress.....

Since the boys were torn between wearing bathing suits, or tiger costumes (anything but normal clothes, that's just not done in this house) I made the silly mistake of telling them that if they were very good, and let mummy clean the kitchen without interruption and gave me 30 minutes of quiet time with no fighting that perhaps we could do something fun that Saturday (this was last Tuesday), like swimming at the community pool.
I got my 30 minutes of relief, and all was promptly forgotten (or was it).

Saturday dawned bright and early - sunny and COLD.
Duncan immediately waltzed into my room at 7:30am and announced "how many hours until we go to the pool?"
you see, in his mind 'perhaps' means "definitely yes, I promise". The qualifier 'if you are quiet' to him means "give mummy 30 minutes of peace and then I can go back to my regular routine of whining and asking for stuff, and she will still have to keep her end of the bargain because she PROMISED* (*see his definition of 'perhaps').
All this I found out at 7:30 on Saturday morning because you see, I had completely forgotten about the deal I had made with the devil for 30 minutes of daily life not punctuated with the melodious strains of the blasted harmonica.....after all, that was 4 days ago - and life was pretty hectic and busy those four days - I had not remembered.
But someone else did.
He was insistant.
Like a little bulldog - pool this and pool that and "mummy you SAID we could go to the pool on Saturday and it's Saturday"

Still, a promise is a promise - even if only in the eyes of a 4 yr old, and since I didn't really have any plans for the day, I thought, what the heck, I'll take the kids to the pool.
Public swim is open from 1:10pm until 4pm. We were there at 1:08!
The boys had worn their swimsuits to the pool, so we just had to get a locker and peel off the winter trappings (coats and boots and clothes) and grab out towels and Huzzah - a lovely afternoon ahead of us.
The kiddy pool is large and shallow and perfect for kids such as mine. they have toys, and floaters and the water is as warm as a giant bathtub. They love it. I love it. They don't fight at the pool, and they were even mindful of the 'RULES' that are heavily enforced there - no running, and stay near mummy. In fact, I ran into a friend of mine, there with her daughter and a neighbourhood friend, and we chatted and the kids played and all was good and lovely......until......
yes there is an until.
All was good until a big kid threw up in the pool. We'd been there barely 30 minutes.
BLECK
Now in his defense, he was mentally challenged, and I understand why his parents would want to bring him to the kiddy pool - but PLEASE, don't bring sick kids to the pool. This is just gross.
Having a 'puker' myself - Matthew throws up regularly just becuase he has problems eating properly- I am quite aware that kids sometimes puke when they are not sick - but this was a sick puke.
so rule #1 is - Don't bring a sick kid to a public pool.
Rule #2 is - After they are sick, take them home.
But nooooooooo, they decided to let sick kid into the big pool.
The kiddy pool had to be shut down for at least 1 HOUR For them to clean it, and meanwhile, I let the kids try the hot tub, and the big pool, which has some very large entry steps and a ramp (for wheelchair access) so the kids could at least play a little bit in the big pool (considerably colder too I might add).
My kids didn't understand why the warm pool had to be shut down, and kept to the wheelchair access ramp because it is a gradual slope, and they only go up to their waist, at which point I kept getting stern warnings from the lifeguards for letting them play there. It's supposed to be for wheelchairs. There were no wheelchairs around, and we were only there while they were cleaning up the kiddy pool - grrrrr. I understand lifeguards have a job to do, and rules to enforce, but they also need a little flexibility under the circumstances since the kiddy pool was closed, and there aren't really any other easy places to take a 3 & 4 yr old swimming.
Anyway - they finally opened the pool back up at 2:45pm.
we played for 15 minutes and then headed out to go back home. I promised the kids pizza and yummy desserts - and the pool tired them out, so we did have a nice relaxing Saturday after we got home.
I must remember though, when they are doing something particularly annoying - not to tempt fate by saying "perhaps" we'll do something next Saturday, in exchange for a brief moment of peace. A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat.