The twins went to the pool for the first time recently. My parents stayed over so they could babysit for a little while and then spend the next day with us for Father's Day. The plan was to get them ready and out the door after their morning feeding so we could get them outside early since we live in FL where it's Africa hot all the time. We took them to our community pool with their little SPF swim outfits and swim diapers on (that we got from Target). I had researched a ton of different swim floats to find the best ones that also provided shade. We wound up ordering two on Amazon that had the highest ratings and canopies over them to block the sun. One pink and one blue...
I covered any exposed skin with nontoxic kids sunblock and had little sun hats on them. (Although I think I am going to look into getting long sleeve tops for next time). They are just SO pasty white I was paranoid the whole time about them getting burned.
The pool was empty, which was awesome. We slowly carried them in the water, which was a little colder than I would have liked but not too bad, and carefully started dipping their legs in the water going a little further in each time. Once they were acclimated to the water we got them situated in their floats.
Riley was instantly all smiles. She kicked her feet underwater and splashed her hands. My dad would take his hand and splash the water in front of her and then she would mimic him and do the same. It was pretty amazing to watch. She absolutely loved it!
River was a bit more uneasy, as he is with most things. He didn't fuss much, but he looked a bit nervous and unsure about the whole thing at first. But when I grabbed hold of his legs under the water and started making fun noises and kicking his legs so he can see that it's safe and fun. Before long he was smiling and laughing and having a blast!
After a little while we took them out of the floats and held them in the water, swishing them around to give them a different experience. We only kept them in the pool for a half hour, as we didn't want to risk them getting a sunburn or shriveling up into a prune. We stripped off their bathing suits and put them in their car seats with just a dry diaper and before we even put the car in drive they were out like a light!
Looks like we have two little water bugs! Can't wait to take them again. I only wish I could do it more often but I'm not sure I could handle taking two babies myself during the week so we will have to wait for the weekends for now. Looking forward to our next trip to the pool!
