Swimming and Footers!

The kids have swimming lessons this week and next-- Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings-- so things are a little nuts around here. The little one and I got home and had a snack before bedtime while the big guy and his dad were at the pool. We've lived here long enough that we're starting to see friends and neighbors at things, so both kids have friends in their classes.

As far as house news, we have footers now! We also had an inspection today, and it went well (everything was signed off on)-- hooray!

Hack, Cough, Snore

Sorry for the lack of posts this week-- my cold turned into bronchitis and I spent most of the week coughing and/or sleeping. One of the things we did do this week was start swimming lessons with the little guy. He actually jumped into the pool Thursday night-- he hasn't done that in a long time.

I'm hoping this is the winter he learns to swim.

Family Pool Time

My mom and brother are in town (to attend my great-uncle's funeral that was this morning), so we went to the splash pad before the little guy's swimming lessons tonight. It was fun to have extra eyes at the pool with the kids.

Swimming Lessons!

The little guy has swimming lessons every evening this week, and tonight's went SO well. I think he had a great time!!

It was such a nice change from last summer (when he was consistently terrified).

Swimming in the Ocean

The baby LOVED going out in the ocean. I took her out beyond the breakers and she just cackled as the waves went by. I was a bit of a nervous wreck-- I'm surprised there aren't handprints on her ribs I was holding her so tightly.

The second day it was a lot choppier, so we just played in the shallow part. She is terrible at standing when there is any kind of current around her feet.

This trip was the first time the little guy has been comfortable running in and out of the waves.

Swimming Lessons

The little guy's swimming lessons were a family expedition today: Nana, Pops, Daddy, Mommy, and the baby all went. The baby played happily through almost the entire lesson.

The little guy did AMAZING today. His teacher was REALLY impressed with how much more willing he was to be in the water this week. Wahoo!

Nature on our porch

Last night I was letting Beau out after a fun couple days of this:

Swim Lessons!

and this:

K-Prep end of year celebration at the Kids' Museum!

and this:

Fun with daddy! She so fast she's blurry.

and something startled me. Up in the corner of our "porch," well, stoop might be a better word, was something big and dark. Big if at first you thought it was an insect. After catching my breath and a closer inspection it appeared to be a little fledgling. Here is what I saw:

I made Emily get out of bed and come down and check it out. We decided (correctly after reading angry posts from birders about LEAVING IT ALONE!) to leave it alone. After much googling for images of fledglings, we concluded it was a Carolina Wren. Emily was worried it was dead so I stared at it for a while trying to see if it was breathing, to no avail.

When we got up this morning we were both relieved to see that the little fella was gone.

But, guess who's back tonight! It looks like our household just added one more creature. (Emily just asked if I thought we should get some worms for it. To which I replied with an eye roll.)

Swimming!

The little guy started swimming lessons today. These are his first lessons where he's in the water without his parents, and he was a little freaked out at first. BUT, he stuck with it and was jumping into the water to his teacher by the end of the half-hour. I am so proud of him!

On the walk home, we had a big conversation about why it's important to learn to swim (and to exercise in general). It's so fun that he's old enough to have actual conversations now, even if most of them are completely ridiculous.

Swimming!

We got to go swimming in my sister-in-law's father's pool this past weekend. The little guy had a blast-- especially because he had his aunt and uncle catering to his every whim.

The baby wasn't a fan of the water, but she did seem to enjoy kicking it poolside with her uncle. They are two peas in a pod!

The little dude had so much fun swimming that he drew a picture of it the next day in the car. 

I love the ears he draws on people. This was a picture of him on the float being pushed by either me or his aunt, depending on when you asked.

Pool Days

We were going to go to the beach today, but went to a city pool instead. It was great-- so much easier than packing the car up for a day at the beach! The little guy had a blast playing in the water.

We stayed in the wading pool and the "sprayground" the whole time. The water varied from 10 to 18 inches deep.

The baby had fun watching all the big kids. She liked being in the water, too.

During the pool breaks, the kids hung out on their beach towel.

They were both sound asleep by the time we got home, and the little guy napped until bedtime!

Answers

I had an illuminating chat with the little stinkpot's daycare teachers today. Apparently there is a fungus in one corner of the playground that the kids were trying to eat-- and it kind of looks like poop. So THAT's why the little guy told us that we shouldn't eat poop.

Anyway, this handsome little dude rocked at swimming lessons tonight and put his face underwater like a champ. I didn't even get my ankles wet because I'm still traumatized from how cold it was last night. Lessons end tomorrow... It'll be nice to have our evenings back, but I think we'll all miss it, too.

More Swimming!

Sorry for the lack of posting this week... we've been swimming. We took advantage of our free-pool-entry-while-in-swimming-lessons today and (surprise!) went to the pool. The little booger *finally* jumped in the water!

He really enjoyed the 2' section-- he could easily reach the bottom and climb out all by himself.

Swimming Lessons!

Tonight was the little guy's third night of swimming lessons. They learned how to lay on their stomachs (and their backs) and kick.

 They also got to go down the water slide!

He might jump off the diving board (with a life jacket on, of course) tomorrow. I don't know if he'll go for it, but you never know!