Last week Annie went in her cousins’ inflatable kiddie pool, and ever since then she’s been begging us to let her in one again. I tried to play like kiddie pools are magical things that only special people who aren’t us have, but the girl remembered that I bought her a kiddie pool last year. (She forgets nothing, ever.) That pool bit the dust a long time ago, but Annabel kept begging to “play pool in the backyard.” She also kept begging me to buy her a new inflatable pool.
At some point, Annie realized that I wasn’t going to give in. My reasoning for this is that she a) has 8,000 other toys to play with, and b) schlepping both kids to the store for a kiddie pool is on the bottom of my list of things I have the energy for. Annie decided to switch tactics.
“I am going to take my toys and play swimming pool with them in the backyard!” She declared. She marched into the kitchen, grabbed one of my bowls, then marched outside, picking up a few plastic dolls on the way. James and I followed her, intrigued.
She took the hose and filled up the bowl with water, and then had her dolls “jump in.” It was pretty cute, and I hoped that would be enough to satiate her pool needs. But no – I heard her say to her dolls several times, “You will loooove the kiddie pool my mama bought me.” Keep trying Annabel.
Then she said, “Mama, look! I’m pretending this is a pool for me, too!” I looked up from James to find her doing this:
She was cracking up, and said, “Look mama, I’m doing a funny joke!”
It was a bold tactical move on her part, and it got her results…kind of.
I went around the side of the side of the house and grabbed a medium-sized wash bin. I brought it back to where Annie was waiting for me and started to fill it with water.
“For me?! Is this for me, for my pretend pool? Oh I love it Mommy, you are the best mommy in all the word!”
“Thank you Annabel… Enjoy your new kiddie pool!”
Jenn says:
WOW!!! The kid is good!!! Hold on TIGHT when she hits her little tween & teen years Mama!!! Ha ha I love how Clever she is & her sense of humour is hilarious!!! Can you imagine how much she is going to make her little brother do? You are going to have lots of fun with her and her little side kick!!! I can’t wait to hear all of the stories of their adventures together!!! It’s going to be GREAT!! xoxo
Kristen says:
I feel like you could order a cheap kiddie pool (especially this far into the summer) for like $20 on target.com and it would be at your house in a couple of days, right? With all the heat and long days at home with two little kids, I’d be all about having a kiddie pool just because it would keep the older kid occupied for hours! Annie looks cute in her washtub though!
Molly says:
Am pretty sure you’re going to have to get that girl a pool! LOL.
Tracy says:
Amazon prime – free shipping. A pool will be hours of entertainment and knock her out for naps!
Annalisa says:
Nah. I think her “new” pool is just fine. I see so many little and big kids who always seem to have a hard time playing pretend without “the proper toy” that sometimes it worries me for them. The fact that Annie can pretend a wash basin is a pool is awesome!
Lanie says:
Super smart (of both of you)! Love Annie’s imagination/tactics!
April says:
So cute. I love it. As a new mommy, I’ve really enjoyed reading your posts about how much fun you guys have with your kids. Thank you for all your posts!
noelle says:
Seriously, cute! She will love a little kiddiie pool and it will keep her entertained for hours. Plus you get to sit in the shade and relax and supervise Make it her half -birthday present! I have a January girl, too, so we always do a July half birthday. Maybe put the pool out there overnight (not filled, of course!) and leave a note from the “birthday fairy” saying something like she’s doing so well with her swimming lessons that she brought her a little something to cool ofttimes and use her imagination. And also use the birthday fairy’s note to remind her of pool rules / water safety and to always be a good listener when she’s playing in it!
Kate says:
She is so beautiful. And witty already!
Jean says:
A kiddie pool will give you peace and quiet. You can sit in the shade and relax while Annie plays. The big pools are a pain in the neck because you have to maintain them and also make sure all the kids (in the neighborhood too because they will come over) are supervised. I had to do that as a single mother and I also worked from home. It was an exhausting time. Walmart has the roll out pools for $9.99. I just bought my grandson a new one because last year’s was getting icky. All you do is roll it out and fill it up. It’s a good size too. They even have bigger pools in the same style for under $20. Shopping with little ones can be easy. I wore the baby, put the middle one in the big part of the cart, and the oldest walked. I also brought snacks and juice boxes. It’s when they got older and became hooligans that it got harder to shop with them. Who was stepping on whose foot, who threw things in the cart that I didn’t want, etc I had my grandson in the kiddie pool yesterday morning, and then we spent the afternoon over my neighbor’s house in her big pool with her grandchildren. I’m in CT. We value our summers because it goes by too fast, and before we know it, the snow is here again.
Lisa says:
I have used one of those 25 gallon plastic totes as a kiddie pool for my boys for years – they always loved it!
AngieM. says:
growing up we had one just like annie’s only slightly bigger(fancy!) some of the best memories..not even kidding.
Kids are entertained with the simplest things.
love this!
xoxo
Tami says:
She is adorable. I love the last picture. She is like fish in water. I think she could live there if she was allowed!! LOL Enjoy her nowthey grow up way too fast!!
Paula says:
My boys always enjoyed things we could compromise with versus the real thing. It’s like when you buy them a big toy and they’re using the box and their imagination more than what was in the box.
I think the wash tub is a perfect pool for Annie. AND – one thing we did during rainy days – we played foamy pool. A little bit of bath soap in the tub and pool temperature water and they were in there or hours on end.
Sometimes the imagination is more powerful than a blow up pool.
Annalisa says:
Yes! My mom says that at some point she started questioning why she’d buy us big toys in the first place, when all we’d do is play with the box they came in with for months on end.
One time we ended up re-purposing an actual refrigerator sized box as a train, a house, and a TV… my mom was desperate to get rid of it, but we were like “Nooooo!”.
At some point my brother started taking the box to his room at night because he was worried my mom would “accidentally” throw it away.
Paula says:
Annalisa: Same in our house too. We loved the boxes and my brother would build ramps and then we would race Hot Wheels on them.
lauren says:
thank goodness she brought out a bowl and not a cup. I worry for her teenage years, kid is good at negotiating all ready!
Lauren
Kim says:
LOVE IT!!!!
Jackie says:
That second photo is so stink in cute that I want to buy her a pool!
MissyK says:
She is one smart cookie! She almost has me convinced to buy her a pool. LOL! She is awesome.
Tonya says:
That’s hilarious. It’s a good thing we readers don’t have your address. You’d have pools by the dozen arriving at your doorstep in no time.
Savannah101 says:
Cheers to you Mama to holding tight and not giving into her. The easy route would be to give it to her but holding back is going to pay dividends in the future. She’ll learn that she can’t always get what she wants (life lesson!) and will learn that she can’t always get her way with you. Nice compromise with the “mini pool” though.
Auntie_M says:
She may be whip smart, but thank goodness you’re smarter!!!! Love both her pretend pools!