Colonel Redenbacher, at your service!

Maisie and I went to the neighborhood pool today. She LOVES swimming and splashing and kicking in the little wading pool area. There is a big, like, umbrella-shaped fountain in the middle that kids seem to universally hate. Nobody likes it. Who wants to get splashed with water falling off an umbrella? There is something in the collective unconscious which tells us to avoid it. I say this with all the certainty a degree in anthropology can bestow. Which is quite a lot.

The first time we tried out the wading pool earlier this summer, she accidentally sat down suddenly and kind of tipped over so that her head went under water. This was kind of a spectacular feat because the wading pool is only 1 1/2 feet deep. I pulled her up, and she was coughing and sputtering for a minute, and she cried a little bit. Sad, right? Well, then I sat her down on the edge of the pool, and I noticed something pretty big in her right nostril. Mysterious! So I pinched her nose and out popped...wait for it... a POPCORN KERNEL!

What is the what? How did it get in there? It must have been there for a while because it was split open like it was going to sprout. When was the last time we even had popcorn? I can't remember. Are there more where that came from? Does she have a head full of popcorn? These are only some of the myriad of questions that keep me up late at night.

Here is a short poem about that day:

Water in the nose,
Oh, how it burns!
Kernel splits and grows,
Everybody learns.

Also, tell me if this is fair: Maisie and I wore the same sunscreen, stayed out in the sun for the same amount of time, and share half of the same genes. She came home with a golden tan, while I got some new freckles. Verdict is... not fair.

There are a lot of VERY tan people at the pool. They have leathery lizard skin. There are also a lot of people in bikinis who should NEVER be in bikinis. They have more surface area than a small scrap of spandex can reasonably be expected to hold. The categories often overlap.

Another thought about the pool: how much pee is in there? Probably a lot. I started thinking about this after Maisie June tasted the water and pronounced it, "yummy!" She went around with her tongue out, licking the surface of the water. That's my girl!