Image credit: Photo by Capture Queen ™ on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons

It's summer, and my kids have been begging to spend every free moment of their time (and there are more free moments at this time of year than any other) in the nearest body of water that will hold them. Ok, that's not quite true. The nearest body of water that will hold them is the bathtub, and they have no desire to spend any time at all in that, as evidenced their howls of protest when I tell them they will need to relinquish their sticky hair at the end of each day. ("What, Mama?! We spent all day in the water and we can't even swim in that tiny little tub!")

I'm not entirely comfortable with their swimming skills, so I spend each day in the water with them. (Although I'm more than happy for a shower at the end of the day. This is probably the cleanest I've been since I had kids.) I see other moms (moms who have greater confidence in their little ones' swim skills), sitting by the water, enjoying the sun as they tap away at on portable electronic devices (to steal a term from the airline industry).

Those moms look so industrious and engaged, that I have found myself thinking, "Oh, if only I had one of those things, I could be posting to my blog right now rather than letting it languish in the summer heat! I could be scheduling swim lessons (which I haven't scheduled because we're too busy being in the water, leading to a vicious cycle of continuing to not be able to swim well). I could be setting up OT for the fall. I could be answering e-mail, and I could be tweeting about how we're sitting here in the water and... Hey wait! I'm sitting here in the water. On a sunny day. With nothing else to do. Ha ha! Suckers with their iPhones and Blackberries!" Then I wiggle my toes in the water and watch my kids not quite swim.