Kidopolis, Physical Therapy Day 3

[elfs]

Last night, Omaha was feeling a bit pressured and out of sorts, so I agreed to take both of the kids to Kidopolis, a local indoor playground that they both love. After dinner, I let them loose and went to sit down and watch. With my wrist brace on, I was reluctant to try and chase them down inside the twisty, turny, not-sized-for-an-adult facilities.

There was a quite lovely redheaded woman talking to Yamaarashi-chan and watching the girls run about, and after a while she came and sat next to me, and we chatted. She wondered how I managed to get the girls to get along so well when most sisters fought; I thought that they were just too young to be rivalrous, and too different, too much into their own worlds, to fight over little things.

She really seemed to want to have someone to talk to. Her husband was aloof, standing off on the side with a book, looking vaguely resentful. She said that she spent most of her day at home, alone, with her three-year-old son, who looked like he was having as much fun as the girls were. When she asked where my wife was, I mentioned that I'd taken the kids out to let her have a quiet evening at home. "Aren't you the super dad. That's so nice of you." I got this strange feeling that her husband over there was a bit clueless about what to do with a kid all by himself.

After dropping Kouryou-chan off at home, I took Yamaarashi-chan back to her mother's house, then finally got to home and bed myself. Kouryou-chan awoke in the middle of the night, very upset, and nobody got much sleep.

I went to the pool at 5:30 am again. Didn't do as well as Wednesday. Managed 750 meters and towards the end it wasn't the exhaustion that drove me out of the pool, it was a vague but persistent sense of nausea. The lifeguard asked me if I was an ex-team swimmer and I allowed that I was. She nodded and said, "You look like it. Good luck." I wasn't quite sure what that meant.

Omaha expressed worry that three times a week is "too much"; I objected that 90 minutes a week of workout is probably not enough to undo fifteen years of neglect. The nausea accompanied me all the way up on the ride into work, but by the time I sat down at my desk I was okay. Still feel tired, though. Tonight's the first night of Foolscap. I hope I'm not too spacey.

Comments

[taxqueen.livejournal.com]

Have to ask...where is Kidopolis? Is it on the Eastside? I'm always looking for a place for Lee to take Nicky when I need an evening off.

Thanks :)

[elfs.livejournal.com]

http://www.fun-center.com/WA/

Look for "Kidopolis" under "indoor attractions."

lifeguard enigmas

[woggie.livejournal.com]

Perhaps she thought you were a team swimmer training for distance. Not too many people approach swimming in as determined a way as you, except perhaps someone who is used to approaching it with competition in mind. Plus you're skinny to begin with. Especially when compared to someone like me. :)

At least that's what I can read into it. :)

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

My sister and I didn't fight until we hit puberty, and even then it wasn't nearly as vicious as the fights between other siblings of our acquaintance. We still get along much better than other same-sex sibling pairs I know, although we've gotten past dividing up the M&Ms (sorted by color and then divided absolutely equally).

It sounds like you have tacit assumptions that the girls A) won't fight, and B) will get along. Those unspoken conventions can have a pretty profound effect.

About the swimming--you probably still swim like a swimmer, and you probably still look like a swimmer. The boyfriend still has the shoulders, and he's been in the water something like once in the last fifteen years.

nausea

[sarabande7.livejournal.com]

swimming *always* makes me ill, but when i run too early in the morning i get nauseous as well. is that a possibility here?

i'm looking for the comments i wrote (a few years ago, when i probably thought differently) about the vingeian singularity stuff. if/when i ever find them, i'll reply to that post.

good luck w/ the swim regimen

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

I get the impression that you haven't swam in a long time. You'll probably get a little nausea just from re-adjusting. Also, the amount you noted here really is an awful lot of exercise when you're just getting back into it. Be careful not to do too much, especially with your wrists needing strengthening. Remember, swimming takes more out of you than you realize.

:notes that I gotta get back to that myself.

The lifeguard was probably noticing that you still have the swimmer's form (as in your swimming style), and maybe it was a gentle reminder to take it easy too. It's natural for us to figure we can do just as we used to and forget that our bodies are older now so it's gonna take longer to build back up.

Take care and good luck!

[omahas.livejournal.com]

Also, the amount you noted here really is an awful lot of exercise when you're just getting back into it. Be careful not to do too much, especially with your wrists needing strengthening. Remember, swimming takes more out of you than you realize.

Please, folks, tell him this. He won't listen to me, his wife, the person who has lived with him as long as he has been single (eighteen years), who has the most to lose if he pops his cork! I told him to start at, like, once a week and work his way up. Sigh.

[lisakit.livejournal.com]

Yup. Even if the rest of his body is fit, his wrists *aren't*. He can do even more damage by pushing it.

Slow and steady.