Day Seventy-One

It turns out that the day I took this photo is going to be the last time I see Mila in real clothes.

The very next day, we opened the pool for the summer. Now, our pool is nothing special. It is in desperate need of a deck around it. It's small. But, it's a pool. And Mila loves it. A lot.

Mila legit spent over 10 hours in that pool today. The other three of us took turns making sure she didn't drown herself, which I'm not sure why we're worried about it since she now knows how to swim. Yes, finally, Mila knows how to swim. She's terrible at it, but terrible is better than incapable, so we'll take it. By the end of the summer, she'll be a pro. Of that I'm certain.

When darkness fell over our house, I started telling Mila it was time to get out of the pool. She had only gotten out to go to the bathroom and eat, so seriously it was time. She was two seconds from growing fins.

And yet.

She argued.

And argued.

And argued some more.

She really just wanted to stay in the pool for the rest of time. It doesn't matter that she can go right back in it tomorrow. She wanted to sleep there. She had a whole plan worked out, apparently. There's a giant unicorn floatie in the pool, because of course there is, and Mila decided she was going to sleep on top of it. I just needed to get her a blanket and it would be fine.

Or not.

I mean, I don't really want my kid to drown.

So we fought about it. There was a lot of screaming and crying, and then Mila had opinions about it as well. There was no winning, though. None. No way.

I did the only thing I could do - I sent in reinforcements. I summoned Alexis over to fight the good fight. Alexis also spent most of the day in the pool, so at least she had a swimsuit on and could actually chase the Tiny Human. Me in my jean shorts and t-shirt weren't going on. Period.

So Alexis went in. Mila didn't flee, which was a good sign. And then they had a little conference. There was whispering and nodding and both of them kept glancing over at me. I have no idea what they said, but suddenly Mila took off for the ladder and got out of the pool. She waddled her wet little self straight into the house without a single fuss.

I was astounded WHAT HAD ALEXIS SAID?

Of course, I asked. Alexis' answer? "There are some things that you just can't tell your mother."

I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS. And now I'm scared of Alexis' superpowers.