I bought a little pool for the backyard...it's only 1000 degrees in Arizona so what the hell, right? It's pretty cute, a turtle, with a little canopy for shade. I also bought a bigger one for Tyson, no turtle or canopy, but still ok for a backyard. It was actually pretty selfish of me. I am sooo white, my body is crying out for the sun..."tan me...tan me". I figured that they might cooperate with me on this. Tyson could play, pretend to be a fish and Alex...well he could sit in some water and splash around a bit. Good plan, except for one small thing...oh two things actually. 1. Alex is not mobile. If you want him to sit, you have to put him in a sitting position. He can roll but can't crawl and hates to be on his tummy at all, because of his wonderful button. 2. He hates to have his feet wet...weird, yes, but true. I think it's because of the IV's and the pulse ox (oxygen saturation monitor) that was permanently stuck to his feet. It has this little red light which blinks. What they didn't mention was that the little light burns the shit out of little baby skin. They were always moving to avoid burns but it didn't always help...toes, instep, little blisters everywhere. OH and 3. (I know i said 2 but obviously i lied) He has medication that says "NO SUN EXPOSURE". So what did I do? I lubed him up with SPF 500 and stuck him in this little pool...sitting...confused...and pissed off so I could have a few minutes of sun. Didn't really work out. I think he was in there for 3 minutes then we both got in the bigger pool with Tyson (so white trash...I know). He liked that better but he was slippery and kept leaning back to try and get his feet out of the water. He wasn't exactly happy with Tyson splashing around either. He definitely was not grasping the concept.
I've always said that his tummy button (not his BELLY button) made him look like a blow up doll. It looks just like the damn button that I blew the pools up with. But in his little swim suit it was worse. You do sit there and say "holy shit...there is a hole in the baby" and it is not normal. Stupid button...they break...they have to be well cared for....and they are the only place that your child is going to get any nutrition. I hate it. I hate all the moments that I see other kids...babies or toddlers, smearing spaghetti O's all over because that is not my kid. My kid eats thru his stomach. His food comes in the mail. He didn't smoosh cake on his first birthday, there were no funny, horrified faces of him eating yams or some other baby food. It sucks. I hate it. I really hope he has a breakthrough...physically, orally...something. We know that his brain works...you can see his frustration. Hopefully when he gets older I'll be able to talk him thru it...but for now...I have an inflatable pool floaty for a child.
