Since my oldest son was very small, we’ve been indoor waterpark enthusiasts. Starting with our inaugural family trip to the Great Wolf Lodge for New Year’s 1999, Jon and I – plus whichever kids we’ve had at the time – have visited at least a dozen different waterparks across the Midwest and beyond.
To me the indoor waterpark is the ultimate multi-aged family getaway: enough thrills to keep the big kids happy, with plenty of fun for the little ones, all wrapped up in one enclosed, chlorine-scented, pasty-midwestern-legs-allowed package.
And then there are the water slides. Though in my early twenties I outgrew my penchant for bumpy, jarring roller coasters (ouch) and flippy-upside-downy carnival rides like the Zipper (hurl), my love for the water slide has remained intact. They’re smooth, fast, and just thrilling enough for this tender-tummied mama.
I remember clearly how frustrating it was for me not to be able to just hit those slides over and over during those first few trips-as-a-mom to the water park. Sure, I loved hanging out with our toddler – and later, our toddler and his younger brother – in the oddly warm wading pool and lazy river to a certain extent, but I couldn’t help but feel the pull of the towering, twisting slides. See, I’ve always been a “doer,” more than a “watcher,” and watching other people have a good time just made me wish I was having a good time, too. Which, sidelined in the baby pool? I wasn’t, so much.
While I was able to sneak away a few times during that first trip, after we added our second son to the mix, tag-teaming became a necessity: with a 2 1/2 year old and devil-may-care 9-month-old playing in the water at the same time, it really helps to have two sets of hands. So during each water park trip I sighed and resigned myself to my fate: sitting in a few inches of warm water in the baby pool, watching my little ones toddle around and hoping I might get to steal away for a quick slide.
We went to the Wisconsin Dells Great Wolf Lodge again last weekend with all five of our kids plus our teenage niece and six-year-old nephew. The last time we went to a water park, Clara was about a year old, Owen was four, and William, at six, couldn’t really swim yet. This time, everything was different. Will is now tall enough to go off with his older siblings and hit every ride – even the terrifying looking “Howlin’ Tornado.” Owen, almost 6, is confident in the water but also old enough to listen to directions and not wander off. Clara, at 2 1/2, is steady on her feet. The little kids are old enough for one parent to watch securely, meaning the other one can take off with the big kids and hit some slides.
And hit some slides, I did.
But strangely, I also found that I was also pretty content hanging out in that baby pool. The same one that had once felt like a jail sentence now seemed like a nice place to spend an hour or two. Watching Clara go down the same tiny chute 8,403 times and Owen hop across a series of “lily pads” in the play pool almost as many times in a row was comforting in its repetitiveness (and after seeing it so many times, the images are pretty well burned into my brain now. Who needs a scrapbook?)
I’m not sure what was different this time around. I suppose you could argue that I’ve matured, but I don’t think it’s so much my age that’s made the difference as it is as years of putting in time as a mom. Maybe I’ve come to realize, after watching all these kids grow impossibly quickly, that those years spent “stuck in the baby pool” really go by in a flash, and before you know it you’re trying to keep up with your teenagers as they race up two dozen flights of stairs carrying a big plastic tube. Maybe I’ve also come to realize that the time for me to slide will always come, sooner or later, and I might as well just sit patiently and wait for it instead of feeling anxious because I want it to come faster.
Either way, I rather enjoyed the hours I spent stuck in the baby pool last weekend. No, they weren’t exciting or glamorous; but they were full of their own small pleasures, like the way my five-year-old son beamed when he got all the way across the rope bridge, or the way my seven-year-old ran fearlessly in as the enormous dumping water bucket tipped, then danced in unrestrained delight under the deluge. The way my two-year-old held out her arms for me to catch her, again and again, as she came sailing down her little slide. Or the way my two big boys, now lanky and tall and oh-so-cool, skipped away like little boys to ride the Howlin’ Tornado one more time.
Now that I think about it, that’s what has changed about me in all these years of motherhood: I’ve come to appreciate watching the people I love enjoy doing things just as much as I enjoy doing them myself.
Maybe that’s why I’ve come to love my vantage point from the edge of the baby pool. And funny thing – it no longer feels like being “stuck” at all.
Thank you for this post. I am fairly new to the SAHM routines and am going through the baby and toddler phase for the second time around (my son was 5 when we had my daughter and we are expecting again). This post reminded me that my time to get “my stuff” done is still there in little pieces rather than in whole afternoons I can still do it, but to not fret because sooner or later my kids who are still little at the moment are going to grow and become independent and sooner or later I’ll be back to getting an afternoon to myself, at which point I’m probably going to be looking back and wishing for today, so I’d better enjoy it while it’s here! Make the memories wonderful and so that they count so that when it does come time I will have them.
I feel stuck a lot these days. This is a good post to read for a little perspective!
As a mostly SAHM of a 16 month old, I feel “stuck” a lot of days. As you said, I am a doer, so when the only activity my toddler allows is going up and down a slide, it is easy for me to feel frustrated with my life. But, like you said, this time is temporary. So I try my best to enjoy and told tight to these sweet toddler days because she won’t always be interested in hanging out with her mom at the park 😉
Brilliant! I’m constantly amazed at how well you take my feelings and put them into words! I’m an Engineer, not a writer, so it’s hard for me to do — but you have this ability to write exactly how I feel!
I relate to this post so much. Our trips to the pool this summer were “stuck” at the kiddie end too. With our four (7, 5, nearly 3, 17mo) it was too hard to tag team for one of us to hit up the two slides at our pool. I didn’t even have much of an urge anyway. I still had fun and know that those days will eventually come.
I think having four kids has helped me with the patience and maturity to know that we need to savor today, and the tomorrows do eventually come. It’s easy for first time parents to want to hurry up time thinking it will get easier. And in some ways it does, but I have found that each new year of age brings on new and different challenges.
Sure I’m looking forward to a diaper free, nap schedule free existence and the freedom it will bring. So many adventures await us. But, by then there will also be no more silly toddler antics, witnessing amazing leaps of learning (she’s walking! she said Mama!), endless kisses and hugs, looks of pure wonder, and innocence.
I know how you feel too! My son just turned 2, and now I’m wishing he’d stay little (and keep me confined to the ‘baby pool’) for just a little bit longer! I often find myself stopping to soak small moments in, because like you said, I’ll be being left behind for the slides in no time 🙂
I think a big difference is that you DID get to hit the slides. You got to do what you wanted for yourself, as well as what everyone else wanted. That mix is so important! So it’s not just that your point of view has changed (although I’m sure it has–how could it not?), but that unlike your previous trips, you had options instead of restrictions.
This is really lovely, Meagan, and an important reminder to those of us who feel permanently stuck these days. This line, especially, resonated deeply with me:”Maybe I’ve also come to realize that the time for me to slide will always come, sooner or later, and I might as well just sit patiently and wait for it instead of feeling anxious because I want it to come faster.”
Off now to hug my baby while she’s still firmly in baby pool territory.
I love this sentiment. such a good analogy for parenting in general. i am looking ahead to a few years of being in the “baby pool” and am really trying to embrace and enjoy the experience….mysterious warm water and all!
That process seems very familiar to me. You do come to realize that there is a lot of joy in watching the ones you love “do.” Nice post. thanks
I understand this feeling totally… I call it “tied to the nursing chair”, and I’ve certainly felt it over the years. Oddly, my feelings NOW with even more kids and more years of mothering under my belt is also similar to yours… I’ve realized life there isn’t so bad. It’s actually precious. 🙂