45 weeks

If you can tell by these cherry-colored cheeks, week 45 brought unusual heat to the Bay Area, especially for the last week of July which is typically overcast and misty. As a result, we learned that week that Sloane is a water baby. She's always liked baths -- from the week she was born -- but it hadn't occurred to me that at 10 months she would be completely as ease in a swimming pool. Indeed, this girl is a little fish!

We got our first hint of it when we inflated a mini pool in the backyard for Riley. We plopped her down in it and she immediately began splashing around and playing with Riley; she let him get her wet with no fuss whatsoever. Later, after I had pulled her out of the pool, she crawled back across the grass, pulled herself over the pool wall and slithered right back into the water. It looked perfectly natural, like watching an animal that had been called home to its habitat.

I didn't capture that moment, but did get a little clip of her splashing around happily.

Of course, Riley had a great time with the pool, too, including the rare chance to use the hose in this summer of drought.

At the end of the week, we headed to Napa for Riley's annual school camping trip. It was 107 the day we arrived so we were pleased to get to cool off in the pool. Once there, Sloane surprised me once again. She floated in the water like it was a daily occurrence: totally chill, totally stable. She was super happy the entire two hours or so she spent in the water; I bet should could have stayed the whole day. Bigger kids constantly splashed her and she didn't even flinch. Amazing!

Since we've clearly got a fish on our hands, I enrolled her in baby swim classes as soon as we returned home. More on that adorable pursuit in future posts.

I'll just close with a final photo of my mom on Bernal Hill during our (relative) heat wave. Three cheers for the sun!