Why we can't have a swimming pool.

#1 Son has been asking to go swimming since mid January. He wants to go to Grammy & Pa's to go swimming (they had a wading pool when we were there last June). He wants to go swimming at Uncle Gick's (they have a pool they put up in the summer). He wants to go swimming in the hotel we stayed in for Inkling's wedding last year. He wants to go swimming at the YMCA where his Uncle Little BIL took us before he left for South Korea last April. Now he wants us to get a pool.

At some point Husband hinted at getting a pool for #1 Son's birthday. I vetoed the idea for the following reasons:

1. Our yard is a hill. One big hill. There are no level places in our yard other than the woods and you cannot put a pool in the woods. It would take some serious landscaping to put up even a small wading pool. Trust me, we've tried. It's never pretty. Wading pools should not have 'deep ends' that are a full foot deeper than the shallow end. In the long run, the pool will try to roll down hill...and that's never a good thing.
2. #1 Son and sun block do not get along well. So far he can only use Banana Boat Baby Magic Sunblock...and they no longer make it. Everything else I've tried has broken him out. Even the hypo-allergenic baby sunblock has broken him out. I'm about to go on the hunt for something new, but it's not an easy task. This means he cannot be outdoors undressed during mid-day. I do not need a lobster red 4 year old.
3. We have cats. Lots & lots of cats. Cats and blow-up pools don't mesh well. Claws & vinyl are not friends.
4. I am 8 3/4 months pregnant. In less than 30 days I'll be recuperating from major surgery and nursing an infant. This does not leave me much time for wrangling small children in and out of a swimming pool. Not to mention the fact that I won't be able to lift small people in and out of a swimming pool due to a 6 inch incision in my abdomen...and what to do with Bitsy while the others are swimming. Not sure she'll be quite ready for the beach bunny look...bikini & sunglasses & all.

In the drive-thru at McDonalds last week, #1 Son was asking why we couldn't get a swimming pool for our house & I was trying to explain these reasons to him (silly me). I wasn't getting far so Husband stepped in. He told #1 Son we didn't have the right kind of grass for a pool. #1 Son asked, "Don't we have regular grass?" Husband said, "Nope. Ours is unleaded." #1 Son said, "OK. Mommy, we can't have a pool because we have unleaded grass."