outdoor activities

for those that take your LOs in the kiddie pool by yourself, how do you do it? i fill the pool and bring one out at a time...naked, lol.
but once they are in, one tries to put his face in the water and the other tries to climb out.
i cant sit in the house all day and sometimes the swings are too far and it's too hot for a walk.

 

Can you sit in it with them? Give them lots of bath toys? I've taught my son if he blows raspberries near the water he'll blow bubbles. As long as you are right there, it shouldn't matter if he tries to put his face in. Maybe the one tries to climb out because there's too much water? Try putting less and encourage them to sit and kick the water with their feet. If he does climb out, let him crawl around once to see its not that exciting...he may want to climb back in.

 

Last year we got them THIS pool; it only holds a few inches of water, which is just enough to cool them off and let them splash around. Of course we have a well, and our water is about 45 degrees so we can't use the "squirt" feature. This was great for when they were too young to keep from falling in the water. Now we have a "regular" kiddie pool and they do just fine.

I second the idea of sitting in there with them too; bonus is that you get to keep cool as well!

 

We got the same Lil' Squirt pool last year for the twins and love it. I have it set up this year for the baby, but the twins are in it much more than their larger pool I have set up right next to it. Like Valerie said, it doesn't hold much water and you can sit down next to it and grab a baby easily as it doesn't have sides. They love crawling/running in and out of it.

I panicked with the twins when they'd put their face in and get choked. My friend who teaches swimming said not to worry, that they'd learn. He was right! This year I didn't get upset when the baby put her face in and she only choked once or twice and now she loves getting her face wet.

Like PPs, I wouldn't put much water in the pool and I would also get in with them so you can grab them up easier if they fall backwards until they get more sure-footed in the pool. Can you put the pool in an enclosed area of the yard so they can crawl out and explore some while the other swims? Mine are all about getting in and out, in and out...

Cups and bowls of various sizes are fun and you can show them how to pour from one thing to the next. We're in our kiddie pool every evening, and I have been known to break out the bar of soap at the end and call it a bath too :FIFblush:

 

I think that Lil Squirt pool sounds like a great idea :good:
Last summer we had one of those cheap, plastic pools and filled it up enough to cover the bottom and let the kids sit in it. We gave them cups, buckets, shovels and pool toys for them to play in while in the water. I have one that loves to climb in and out of the pool and since their pool is on our deck, I kept them both in water shoes, so the escapee could get in and out of the pool without worrying the deck was too hot. Hopefully the toys might be enough distraction for your little one who likes to be go in the water but if it keeps up, I would keep repositioning him.
I don't know if this would work or not since your two are over a year but when my two were 6-9 months old, I would put them in their little pool sitting on their bumbo seats, so they would not fall over in the water and splash them a little...not sure if that would be helpful or not.

 

great ideas. bringing a ton of measuring cups and things along those lines outside to the pool now. thanks, ladies.
we have a blow up pool and i cant fit, lol. theres so much crap hanging around it, its nuts! : ) we thought it might give them something to do!