Andrew: Pool Boy Extraordinaire

Andrew has been my #1 pool helper this year.  He is always excited to join me down at the pool for our regular maintenance routine.  These days, I'll say "Andrew, let's go down to the pool!" and he'll respond "Bee?" for bleach.  "Yes!" I'll say.  We use household bleach to chlorinate the pool for numerous reasons (see TroubleFreePool.com if you're interested), and with a pool our size we need to add approximately 1 jug of beach a day.  So he and I will traipse down to the pool (I'm usually lugging a couple jugs of bleach), then he will escort me to the pool house where I'll change into an old white t-shirt so I don't ruin my clothes with bleach spots.  We head back to the edge of the pool where I'll open the first two jugs of bleach, then pour them in along one side of the pool.  After rinsing the jugs out, I return them to Andrew who will lay down at the side of the pool so he can refill them with pool water, then dump them back into the pool like he's just watched me do.  Then I continue the process with however many more jugs of bleach need to be added that day. 

Next I'll get an "Unh!" as Andrew runs to one of the strainer basket and lifts the cover off for me.  I'll follow him and dump the leaves out of that strainer into my bucket.  By that time he's usually off running to the next basket, pointing and exclaiming "Unh!" as if I've forgotten we have more to do.  After the third strainer basket we're usually done, although sometimes he likes to stay at play there by lifting the cover on and off and splashing in the water.

Amusing side note - a few weeks ago some school friends invited the first graders and their siblings to their neighborhood pool for a swim.  Brian was working, so I had all three kids to wrangle.  At one point I look around for Andrew and realize that he's found the strainer basket covers at this new pool and is attempting to open it so we can clean it out.  Another dad was standing right there and trying to convince Andrew to leave it alone, so I hurry over and explain that Andrew knows exactly what it is and why he's so persistent in trying to open it! 

Another thing Andrew loves to do is play with Squirty, our robot who vacuums up debris from the pool floor. Squirty has a "tail" that spits out a stream of water.  During swimming season, Andrew would be entertained for a long time by holding onto the tail and splashing water around the pool, although his absolute favorite was squirting Mommy or Daddy in the face when we came over to hang out with him.  But these days he just ends up drenching himself while he uses the pool water to water the remaining garden plants or the concrete sidewalk.

Some of Andrew's other favorite things to do by the pool are: drive Nathan's trike or his toy stroller around and around and around the pool, take the squirt bottle I use for testing the pool chemicals and squeeze it all over the pool furniture cushions, unstack and restack the plastic kid chairs, and help harvest the ground cherries and wonderberries.