Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Swimming, Swimming ...

All three kids have been taking swimming lessons again this summer, something we believe is not a matter of sport or fitness as much as it is a matter of safety. Luckily, none of our three have ever had a fear of water, preferring to spend more time under it than above it listening to their instructors.

During one class last week, the instructor had the long rescue hook in the water, the pole touching the bottom of the pool. The kids were supposed to hold on to the pole and swim down as far as they could. At the end of class, Milo approached me on the pool deck, a suspiciously huge smile on his face. The kind of look that almost screams, "guess what's different about me!"

"What?" I asked.

"Do you notice I'm extra wet today? That's because I had to swim to the bottom of the pool!"

Happy sweeping!

Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Stuck ...

I find myself wondering sometimes whether kids forget to plug their brains back in when they wake up in the morning. After a good night's sleep, my 7 year-old son Milo was getting dressed when from his room, I heard him calling for help. It wasn't a pained cry but more of a "what have I gotten myself into?" one.

We met halfway between my office and the bedroom and I was struck dumbfounded by his predicament. It seems that he had pulled up his pants as high as he could get them without having unbuttoned and unzipped. They were stuck around his thighs. Laughing, I suggested he undo the button, but to no avail. They were too tight. Okay then, how about you try to pull them down, I offered. Still too tight.

As I was busily trying to explain to a very frustrated Milo that we weren't laughing at him but rather at his predicament, I just couldn't find the right words. Meanwhile, there he stood, pants stuck halfway up forced to listen to me toss out nothing more than "word salad".

It wasn't until my wife Kathleen came to his rescue -- and pulled his pants down for him -- that his suffering ended. Turns out that maybe my kids aren't the only ones whose brains are not up and running first thing in the morning.

Now, where's my coffee?

Happy sweeping!

Bob Gunther
Webmaster, ContestHound.com