Water Baby

~~~~July 2006~~~~

Ryan is a crab, literally. He was born under the sun sign of Cancer the crab. Cancer is a water sign like Scorpio (me) and Pieces (my mom). Both my mom and I were born on the east coast but she never learned to swim. I wouldn't say I am the best swimmer around but I do like the water. They gave Ryan his first bath in the hospital, or so they say. It was either while I was in recovery or later that night. I don't remember much about those first few hours.

When we brought Ryan home, I was kind of afraid to give him a bath a first. Especially because of the stump left from his cord. For the first while I just gave him a bird bath of sorts. I would fill the sink with warm water and grab a face cloth. I would start with his exposed skin first and then take off his clothes and diaper and wash him up.


When his cord stump finally fell off I took the plunge and gave him his first bath. A water baby he was not. He screamed and screamed and screamed the first few times. It was not the relaxing experience I was hoping for to say the least. He slowly got used to the tub however and began to enjoy it and splash around. He was still iffy about going flat onto his back or getting water in his face.
Then we started taking Ryan to the pool. Ryan really likes the pool and splashing. We used to go to mom and tot swim at lunchtime on base. We'd swim for just over an hour, then go into the sauna on the way out to warm up. Ryan would always fall asleep on the way home and have a really long nap. We've been to the beach (both here and in Kelowna) this summer and apparently the beach is not like the bath or the pool. Maybe the water is too cool but even Cold Lake feels warm this summer and the lake in Kelowna was warm. Maybe it is the lapping, maybe it is the sand but one thing is clear, despite being a crab, Ryan has to work hard at being a water baby.