The last few weeks I have focused on swimming itself. Today I take you behind the scenes to what happens after.
The class is over and Grace and I make our way to the side of the pool. My lovely sister takes Grace and wraps her in a towel so I can get out of the pool. Grace starts to cry as she thinks I'm abandoning her. I do a small dance in front of her to assure her I'm still here and we are having fun. She raises an eyebrow in doubt.
I quickly get out of the pool and grab my towel and we make our way to the smallest changing room in the world. It's what I now imagine hell is like: 2 x 2m room, six mums and six wet, hungry and tired kids under the age of 2.
I try to dry Grace and remove her togs. I seriously consider cutting the damn things off her as removing wet lycra from a protesting baby is not easy.
Once she is naked I try drying her with her now sopping wet towel. Cue loud screaming. One of the other small children covers her ears. I wish I could too.
Grace is still damp but I have no choice but to dress her. Dressing a damp baby is as hard as it sounds. I feel some comfort that the other kids are also in various states of meltdown. Misery loves company.
Finally she is dressed. I put her in the pram and my sister removes her from the changing room so I can get dressed. I sigh with relief as I hear the crying disappear down the hall. The other mums are jealous of my support crew.
Now it's my turn to get dressed. I'm still wet and my towel is also soaked, so as I dress I'm really just getting my previously dry clothes wet. I have considered bringing more towels for us both but given we already take about twenty bags to swimming, I really can't face the idea of taking more gear.
As I walk down the hall, damp, tired and smelling of chlorine, I hear the familiar sounds of Grace screaming from the reception area. She glares at me as I appear, as she unable to comprehend why I still insist we go through this each week.
We all head to the café next door. I dive into a latte and Grace collapses into sleep.
We are done for another week, and boy did we have fun.....
