will WE play in Peoria?

This morning for brunch we had bottomless cups of coffee, pancakes, fluffy scrambled eggs, sausage, blueberry muffins, hash browns… it wasn’t a dream. There is an American restaurant in Grenoble. And it serves Sunday brunch two times a month.

The owner is an American married to a French woman. I think she does the cooking. But she makes food he must really like. The dinner menu includes hamburgers on buns, catfish and cheesecake for dessert.

Brunch was good. It would have been a wee bit better if we hadn’t kept Kaitlyn out late last night at a cookout.. she was a bit grumpy and got in an argument with us over whether or not she is a big girl who can wield a knife to cut her own muffin. (We won that argument, but others in the restaurant who had to listen to her hollering were the real losers.)

The owner says he’s already booked for Thanksgiving. But we can get our traditional meal with all the trimmings if we’re willing to eat it on a day other than Thursday. Works for me. I think I’ll have to make reservations for that.

Today after horseback riding lessons, Kaitlyn said they stood up on the back of their horses. Like in the circus.

This cannot be good. It certainly cannot be safe.

Of course, she also told me she rode a purple horse. I hope both things are things she dreamed while dozing on the bus ride down the mountain. I fear they aren’t.

I think the swimming teacher is getting a bit frustrated at his two American students.

One always seems to be off in her own little world… hardly paying attention. That would be Kaitlyn. Today when she wouldn’t listen, he picked her up and tossed her in the water. She then listened to him. She told me later she thought that was silly. She was completely unfazed by being tossed under the water.

The other student refuses to do anything that might put his face anywhere close to the water. While the teacher was trying to get him to put his face in the water, he wasn’t noticing Kaitlyn behind him doing just that, even though moments before she’d expressed a firm desire not to do so. I guess if he wasn’t watching it seemed like a good idea. When I tried to point it out, she started to cry and said she was too cold. I should have brought her backpack with the sweatshirt and coat!

To make sure Kaitlyn cannot possibly be cold outside on a horse in the middle of July, I packed her a bigger backpack today to take to horseback riding lessons. In it along with the extra sneakers and clothes, I put a sweatshirt and a jacket.

At the end of the day, both were untouched. The doll she’d insisted on taking with her was carefully smashed inside along with them.

Kaitlyn says she’s liking the horseback riding lessons. They learn to brush the horse then walk it on a lead… and they take turns riding them. I asked her if she ate hay with the horse for lunch. No, the leaders took along sandwiches which she “loved” but cannot tell me what was on it. It does sound like they eat next to the horses. Gross. Better her than me.

Her friend’s mom told me that he’d said that Kaitlyn spent yesterday trying to say her name for the teachers with a French accent. I didn’t tell her that Kaitlyn’s report was about how many tears her child shed. Then this afternoon she said she watched the kids get off the bus and Kaitlyn was at the very back of the line with one of the leaders… just chatting away. In English. When she paused, he apparently turned to another kid and said he couldn’t understand her. Didn’t seem to phase her at all.

When I picked Kaitlyn up from horseback riding lessons today, she got mad because I picked her up too early. She wanted to stay later and play. As if she’d never seen a dolly before.

One of the group leaders told me Kaitlyn had been cold. Cold? Kaitlyn? Sounds incredulous. Kaitlyn told me that was not at all the case. Sounds more believable.

Kaitlyn also told me that her friend “cried like a baby” most of the time, wanting his mommy. Did Kaitlyn cry? Oh, no. I believe that, too. I’m glad she’s confident and independent. Sometimes it makes me a little worried… but I’d rather she be willing to do things on her own than not.

Kaitlyn is at her “cours d’equitation” — horseback riding lesson. I’m trying not to be nervous about it.

When I dropped her off, the woman checking everyone in looked at us like we were crazy. Or stupid. “Doesn’t she have a sweater?” A sweater? It’s July. The list of what to wear said pants and sneakers. No mention of a sweater. I’d even gone over the list with a French teacher. I thought all that. I said simply “non.” The lessons are up in the mountains. It’s cold. So I drove like a maniac to the house and back to make sure she’d have a sweatshirt.

I bet she gets hot, refuses to wear it, and comes home without it.

The little boy they paired her with for the bus ride up the mountain is her friend that she’s taking swimming lessons with. He tends to get carsick. No, he seems to nearly always get carsick. He’d better not get carsick all over that sweatshirt.

Today we were back at the pool for swim lesson number two.

I discovered that an 11am lesson is a little early. It was still a bit chilly to me. My car said 20 degrees… not quite 70. But we’d signed up and besides it’s never too cold for Kaitlyn to swim. It does make me question the wisdom of the 10:30 am lesson in a couple of weeks. Maybe it will be hotter by then.

Kaitlyn watched as the teacher laid out everything he’d need for the lesson: goggles, frites, a weird kick board kinda thing that looks like a big 8, and swim fins. She squealed with delight at the idea of wearing the fins.

During the lesson she put her head under the water. It took him a couple of times of explaining to her in French what she was supposed to do. But then she figured it out. She just had to go under then pop her head up on one side of the crazy 8 thingie. Her little friend, Isaiah, then did the same on his side. He was far less interested in putting his head under the water. Kaitlyn is sometimes a little too brave for me.

When the lesson was over Kaitlyn was one giant smile. And she absolutely would not hear of putting on any sort of float suit. Isaiah put his floaty arm bands on.

Kaitlyn was showing off for me her newfound swimming abilities. The teacher said “the mom of Kaitlyn?” (to get my attention)… then he explained that she needs to learn to swim with her face in the water.. that’s the next step. I don’t think it will take too long for her to do that. Not long at all.

Kaitlyn had her first swimming lesson today. We got to the pool about a half an hour early. I wasn’t sure how long it would take to buy the 10-visit passes. Naturally, when I went to buy them, the woman asked me for papers proving we live in town. My drivers license with the address ok? Oh, no. A phone bill would be good. I don’t carry one around with me. She finally just sold me the resident passes.

Once we got into the pool, Kaitlyn zipped up her float suit and got right in the water. It was a little chilly for me, so I watched. The teacher was in the pool giving another lesson. At one point he wanted the boy to put his arms at his side to swim… we’d have probably told him to be like a torpedo. The teacher told him to make himself like “une baguette.” Only in France. I also learned that those foam noodles kids love are called “frites.” (French fries) I was hungry from all the food talk.

When Kaitlyn’s lesson started she was so thrilled. The teacher gave her special goggles. I don’t know what makes them special, but she had to wear those instead of the pink ones she insisted we buy. He had her spit water like a fountain. I’m so happy she’s learned that. He had her racing her little friend across the pool. Kaitlyn won. She likes to race. She doesn’t like to lose. He also had them get into the deep pool to swim. That made me a little nervous, but I figured he knows what he’s doing.

When the half-hour lesson was over, Kaitlyn acted like she’s ready for the Olympics. I made her put her float suit back on to get in without me. That didn’t last very long before she was standing on the steps, unzipping and climbing out of it. “I don’t need it anymore” is what she told me. I don’t think she’ll ever put it on again. I suppose that was the idea of swimming lessons.

We came home from the pool to learn that some of our house guests would be better off not staying together. Which is a problem.

The dog we brought home this morning had broken the running tube thingie off the hamster cage.. and the hamster was missing. Kaitlyn immediately assumed the worst and started to cry accusing the dog of eating the hamster. I wondered why the dog was so excited about the coat closet so I looked there and found that was where the hamster had taken refuge. I wasn’t thrilled by the situation, but it did explain why there were hamster turds all around the house. As he was running from the dog he must have been scared shitless.

With Kaitlyn’s help we got the nervous hamster back into his cage. I probably should have put it back together before we put him in it, but I just wanted to get him out of the closet.

While I did that, Kaitlyn rushed to the laundry room to check the status of the turtle. She seemed very relieved when she reported back that he is still quite alive.

When Bill came home, he had to move the hamster up to the computer room so we can keep him somewhere with the door shut. Lucky rodent, he’s in the room with the air conditioning. I guess next time I’m considering animal sitting, I’ll make sure I don’t have overlapping guests. Or maybe I should just say no. It isn’t really my strong suit.

We have a swimming pool in our yard, but we don’t have a swimming instructor. So today after lunch Kaitlyn and I went to the pool to find the swimming instructor. Honestly, I’m not even so sure exactly why I’d been given this task of tracking him down. Another mom had set up swimming lessons by saying to herself “what is the most inconvenient times for lessons? Let’s see… 1pm on Saturday and Sunday all summer! Sign us up!” Then she seemed a bit taken aback when I said I didn’t really want those times. Anyway, the ball was eventually tossed into my court to deal with.

So we got to the pool, paid our 9 Euros to get in and asked for Alain. Oh, he was there… somewhere. You know him? He’s a big guy. He’d been pointed out to me and I was fairly sure based on memory and the above description that I could find him. I quickly figured he was the large older man perched in the lifeguard chair. Given that I think you don’t chit chat with a lifeguard on duty unless it’s to say “Where’s the life preserver?” I thought I’d wait till he climbed down… and hope I didn’t miss him.

As I was walking along the pavement by the pool to stake out a place for our towels, a man in the pool started talking to me. Which shocked me. What didn’t shock me was that I had no idea what he was saying. So he told me in English: no shoes around the pool. Naturally. Instead you have to walk on rough pavers that have been baking in the sun all day. Pleasant.

Finally, the large fellow climbed down from the lifeguard chair. I walked up and asked if he was Alain. Yup, I was right. I jumped into my speech about needing to figure out the lessons for Kaitlyn. When I tried to ask him how many lessons a kid normally really needs, he told me to just switch to English. I guess it was that bad in French. Whatever, the answer is 10. Or 5. Depends on the kid. So she’s signed up for next Wednesday and Thursday (gotta cancel an overlapping French lesson… but anything to avoid the public pool in the middle of the weekend)… then “we’ll see.” I could have waited till Wednesday for that.

Kaitlyn was already in the pool having a great time. The public pool here in our town is set up with three different pools. A baby pool, which I entirely avoided. No reason to wander over there. A kiddie pool, which is about 3 feet deep and bigger than our backyard pool. And a big pool for people who can actually swim. I don’t know how deep it is, but I can’t touch bottom anywhere. So it’s more than 5 feet deep from end to end. Kaitlyn had on her float suit and was going at it in the kiddie pool… where she can touch the bottom. After a while Alain walked up to the edge of the pool when he saw her and said “C’est toi, Kaitlyn?” (That’s you, Kaitlyn?) Then rattled off something about a lesson with him. He walked away I think because she didn’t say a word to him then she got out of the pool and rushed up to me and said “Mommy, that man said I’m supposed to go with him.” So her French isn’t that good yet. At least she thought to tell me this before wandering off. I assured her she’d misunderstood, which made her mad, and she went back in the pool.

We tried the big pool. That’s how I know I can’t touch the bottom on it anywhere. Getting in was a trick because the ladders were where the teens too chicken for the high dive were hanging out. God forbid they move long enough for a 5 year old to get in. I guess you jump in or you’re out of luck. Or like me, you’re pushy. Kaitlyn had on her float suit still, or we’d have drowned there. One lap of the giant pool and I made her get out. That was not fun. To go back, I’ll need a float suit!

She seemed pretty happy with me in the kiddie pool, though. We jumped and splashed and spun and swam. Well, she swam, I walked. There’s no happy medium for me. After a while a little French girl came up to Kaitlyn and said “give me your hands” (in French) and they were off. So I got out. I sat on my towel and opened a book, but didn’t read a word. I was too worried to take my eyes off Kaitlyn. The other little girl seemed like she was about a year older and a year more confident with the whole swimming thing. She had on those awful arm floats which do nothing but make you look stupid and give you a weird tan. She also liked to get out of the pool and jump back into it. And she lured Kaitlyn out to do the same. First, Kaitlyn sat on the edge of the pool and scooted her butt as close to the edge as possible then just slid the rest of the way in. But after a few times with that, she got braver. And she stepped off the edge of the pool. And she loved it. Then she started running to the edge and jumping in. I got up and told her there were two rules to this: no running and no just stepping off the edge. Jump at least enough to not be close enough to hit your head. The girls then spent the next hour jumping in and getting out and jumping in and getting out.

That gave me a little time to check out the characters at the pool. I realized that not everyone in France is skinny. Those who are really do need to eat something. Those who aren’t really need to invest in bathing suits with more fabric. A gut-load of extra kilos is no reason to give up the skimpy bikini. I also noticed that a lot of the pre-teen kids seemed to be the chubbiest. My guess would be that McDonalds is having an impact on the French. There was also an old guy there who walked around talking to all the kids, tossing in Euro coins for them to dive for and return. Amazingly, they did return them. There was another old guy who has mastered the art of tanning to a frighting level; he was the color of orange tinted chocolate. It was fairly gross. But not as gross as all of them parading around in Speedos… the required swim wear for men at the pool. I’m told it’s for sanitary reasons. They’re apparently afraid that people would wear their shorts around all day, get dirty and sweaty, then jump in the pool wearing them. I’m sure that’s far worse than the cigarette smoke wafting over from the snack bar. Or the fact that the bathroom has no sink.

Toward the end of the day, the little jumping girl’s mom invited Kaitlyn to join them at the smoke, er, snack bar for an ice cream. Kaitlyn accepted and told me not to go with them. I hung back for a while then couldn’t stand it and went over. The mom told me Kaitlyn doesn’t speak much French. No kidding.

After nearly 4 hours there, Kaitlyn didn’t want to leave. She fell running back from the snack bar, though, and cut her knee open pretty bad. The lady in the ticket office (I guess that’s what you’d call it at a pool) has a little first aid kit with some strange red stuff you put on to stop the bleeding. I don’t know what that was but at least it didn’t make Kaitlyn cry even more. And I figured you probably aren’t supposed to go into the pool with that goop on your knee. So we came home.