A Swimmer, or Two

Sam can swim.

How about that?  Sam can swim!  No, he does not have a beautiful, competition-ready stroke.  No, he can not get in the pool unattended.  But YES, he can get himself across the pool, face in the water, safely to the other side.  Yes, he can swim to the bottom of the pool to retrieve a toy.  Yes, he can float on his back.  Yes, he can turn from his stomach to his back when he needs a breath.  Yes, he can jump off the side and swim to the wall.  Yes, he can do a somersault in the water.  Yes, he can dive.  Wait, he just thinks he can.  Fortunately he thinks belly flops are fun.

These are large accomplishments for the boy.  At the end of last summer's swim lessons he could move around the pool as long as he was firmly attached to his noddle.  Take the noodle away and he was once again helpless.  He had little confidence under the water, preferred to swim with his head above.  He never really got the hang of the arms.  He would NOT float on his back.  He was capable, but something wasn't clicking.

This year we signed up with Houston Swim Club.  I'd seen success with friends in the past, and I am now 100% sold on their methodology of teaching small people to swim.  You can watch a video on their website that explains how it works, but the gist of it is this: they ring a bell and your kid walks through a door to a pool area where he meets a teacher that you've never spoken to.  He takes a class while you watch through one-way glass (the kids can't see you) until they deposit your child at the exit door, lollipop in hand, 30 minutes later.

Our first day was probably the busiest day I have ever seen at this place - loud, dark, and crowded in the observation room, the boy was visibly nervous.  I encouraged and comforted and explained and nearly cried myself when I showed him to the door.  Then I almost broke protocol and went in after him when he slipped past a lifeguard and went the wrong way around the pool, unable to find his class.  He looked lost and scared.  Finally a guard scooped him up and carried him to the right spot, and he was fine from there on.

Sam is two months into his lessons and he earned his Guppy and Goldfish ribbons, earning him a place in a Dolphin class.  ("I'm a dolphin now, so I can dive!"  <>  huge belly flop).  He is comfortable with any of the teachers and struts around the pool like he owns it.  

I would be amiss if I did not note that there is, of course, added motivation and opportunity for Sam this year: our back yard pool.  While I'm sure he would have made progress in the program regardless, swimming every day certainly helped.  In fact, I can point to one single day in our pool as the one where Sam learned to swim.  It was a Saturday, and he told me that he wanted to try himself.  He made a conscious decision to put into practice all that he had learned at his lessons.  It was the first time he said he could do it without me in the water, and he did.  I can't wait to see where he goes from here!

We have yet to start lessons for the little lady, mostly because I can't decide which kind I want to do.  There are mommy and me options (not sure you get anything out of these), and the kind where they teach your baby how to back float (some great successes, but also some seriously traumatized children).  Even without lessons, we suddenly have a second water lover on our hands.

I think something clicked for Annabelle on vacation.  She spent a great deal of time hanging out in the tide pools during low tide and she grew rather confident playing around in 6-12 inches of water.  She even demonstrated her ability to blow bubbles in the water - a skill learned 100% through observation as no one in the house had ever thought to teach her!

Gone are my days of allowing Sam to swim while Annabelle and I hang on the side.  She displays a growing amount of displeasure they longer he is in and she is not.  She likes to "jump" off the side and "fall" off the step.  She likes to motor around the pool.  She does not mind at all being dunked under water.  She giggles constantly.

She can't actually do anything, of course, but it is a true joy to watch her have so much fun.

So the backyard pool?  Probably the best decision we made in purchasing a new home.  Yesterday i asked Sam, "Do you want to move to a house without a pool?"

"NO!  Why would you say that?!"

4th Of July

We had a lovely 4th of July this year.  Really, I'm not sure I would have changed much about it!

We began the day by decorating two small bikes.  I think we did a pretty nice job!  The pinwheels on front were great - the spun the whole time the kids rode.

A little before 10 we peddled down the road to line up for the bike parade.  We met up with other neighborhood families at the park to parade down on of the main drags through the neighborhood in true patriotic style.  The kids got to check out a fire truck (the lead vehicle) and a police car (the sweeper).  Of course there was no way that Annabelle would make the full way on her too-big-tricycle, so Daddy happily bailed with her at the turn off to our house.  Sam and I pressed on, all the way to the pool (which you may refer to as 1. The Big Pool, 2. The Swim Team Pool or 3. The Pool That You Go To.  Any of those will differentiate it from the pool in our back yard).  Believe it or not, Sam finished almost at the front of the pack, I'm pretty sure almost 10 minutes ahead of some other riders.

Sam and I swam at The Big Pool for the first time, for an hour, by ourselves.  We had so much fun!  I love swimming with Baby Belle, too, but sometimes its fun to just play with a big kid.  There was a DJ, snacks and a fun crowd to celebrate the day.

After lunch, some good naps and a small list of to-do's (its amazing how having a party can motivate you to get things done) we welcomed some friends over for a pool party.  It was mostly our old community group, the one we hosted for 6 years at our old house, with a few additions.  It felt good and "right" to have our community group in our home once again.

We swam, chatted, grilled, ate, the kids played.  The kids even played inside while the parents chatted outside.  Glory!  We let the kids try out some sparklers, which are not nearly as cool when its not dark out yet.  But bedtimes were upon us, and most were going to work the next day.

Once everyone was gone I told Chris that the one thing I missed was fireworks.  Just a few minutes later we started hearing some go off in our neighborhood.  Then we heard some close - really close.  As in 10 feet from our driveway.  GOOD NEWS!  In the burbs there are very few rules about fireworks and you can set them off in your street!  So we watched our neighbors set off their stash, and some from a few streets over.  Next year we may even get a supply of our own...

Happy 4th of July!

Wipes

I bought baby wipes today.  I understand that this is not generally considered to be a blog-worthy accomplishment.  After all, I have small children and wipes are very much a part of our every day existence.  However, I feel the announcement becomes a little bit more interesting when I tell you this:

Today was the first time that I purchased baby wipes since before we potty trained Sam.

That was 21 months ago.  Really, I'm not kidding.  How, you ask, is that possible?  Because some lovely friends threw me a Diaper and Casserole Shower when I was pregnant with Baby Belle.  And because its hard to know how many of what size diapers a child will need before she is born, many of my very intelligent friends brought wipes.  You can never grow out of wipes.

So here we are 16 months into Annabelle's life and we just ran out of wipes.  Its actually possible (oh please, let it be possible) that the shower gifts supplied 50% of the wipes she will use in the entire course of her diapered life.  Not too shabby.

For the record, we also received about 5.5 months worth of diapers from that shower.  As well as almost two weeks worth of dinners that went into our freezer.  And a few cute gender-neutral clothing and lovie items.  So to any moms prepping for their second child and thinking they don't "need" a shower (which of course, you don't) - you might consider going this route!