Blub.

A promise is a promise. A deal's, a deal, right?! As a kid, aren't promises our first experiences with something like a contract? And, what gets you out of that contract? Maybe your parents grounding you or saying that absolutely, under no circumstances, are you allowed to do whatever it is that you promised to do. But outside of that, you're obligated, right?! Stuck. Committed. No excuses accepted.

So as an adult, what nullifies a promise? A contract? A deal between a husband and a wife? Hmmm, let's think about this... I'm not sure saying your parents won't let you do it would fly in this arena. But going to Urgent Care and having the doctor say you can't... maybe.

I've never before pondered, what exactly I would consider an acceptable reason to break a promise. I've been a pretty lucky girl and my husband has basically always (over the years I've let a few small things slide here and there) fulfilled his promises. Until last weekend....

We had a deal. And it wasn't just a deal with me. It was a deal with Jamie and Garo and Adam! It was a big, sweeping, let's-involve-a-whole-bunch-of-people deal and Dave..... well let's just say, Dave reneged. Oh sure, he had an excuse from the doctor. And he sounded like Demi Moore after a night of hootin' and hollerin' while smoking 20 packs of cigs. And he looked like crap. But a deal's a deal, right? And when reneging on a deal means I have put on a bathing suit before my child is even one year old, I have to call the man out on it!

A group of us signed up for swim classes. Seemed innocent enough, at the time. The guy's were going to take the kiddos in the water, while the chicks clicked pics from the pool deck and cheered them on. Then Dave got sick. Bronchitis. It sucked. And I had to don a suit and take Dash into the pool for his first class. Not exactly the way I had pictured this family-fun event when we signed up for the classes. But here's the explanation right from the horse's mouth (or should I say the hoarse mouth?!)....


He sounds pretty bad, huh? Maybe I should let him off the hook... just. this. one. time!

Ok, well now that we're past that, I have to say that it actually turned out to be a lot of fun. (At least for me.) At first, Dash wasn't too keen on the whole being-in-the-water-but-not-able-to-touch-the-bottom thing. But he eventually got used to it and seemed to have a pretty good time. We sang songs...


...and did the hokey pokey. Jumped off the wall...


... and kicked and splashed.


He wasn't exactly laughing, but there was a fair amount of smiling. You'd think that after being in water for nine months that he would enjoy it like nobody's business (especially since due to the extra amniotic fluid thing, Dashy had a super-sized pool of his very own for most of that time!) But, no. It definitely took some warming up to. And even in the end, he still wasn't exactly sure he was thrilled to be in the water.

It'll be interesting to see where he's at with the whole swimming thing, after a few more times in pool (with Daddy!)

Here he is modeling his new swim duds...


































First time in the big pool...













Trying to figure out how deep that water really is...














It's almost like bath time...