Water

I grew up swimming.  Mom and Dad put me into swimming lessons when I was 6 months old. I started swimming on a year round club team when I was 8 and didn't stop until I was 18. I love the water. As I have gotten older I have begun to realize how very important it was for me growing up. The mindless laps were my meditation time. I never thought I needed alone time until I no longer had 2-4 hours a day of silence in a pool. My team was my family. Middle school was really rough for me. I know it is for a lot of girls but I often think that swimming really saved me. I belonged there, it built my confidence, and I fit in. I was more than happy to go to 5:30 am practices before school and then practice after school too. My friends were there, even when I felt like I didn't have any at school. I was the only middle schooler practicing with the high school boys team, and that builds confidence. (It didn't help "the boy" was on the team too.) Swimmers aren't really known for being the "popular" crowd. It is hard to be cool and attend all the social things when you have practice Friday night and Saturday morning. Not to mention 3 day meets out of town. It gave me excuses to not drink and do all those things that high schoolers do. I might not have been strong enough to say no on my own but it gave me a great excuse. It helped that my swimmer friends weren't into that either. So the water has always been a comfort to me.

Paul on the other hand struggles in the water. I tried to help him learn to swim and a couple of summers ago he finally was able to jump into the deep end. Granted I had to be there, just in case but I was proud that he had overcome his fear. My sister-in-law and her husband also live on a lake so our visits to them include boating and water sports.  Paul is able to enjoy all of that with a little liquid courage and a life jacket.

So saying all this before Sam and Emily were born Paul and I would talk about what sports the kids would play. No soccer, baseball, or gymnastics... maybe basketball and volleyball. All that being said if they want to play, we will let them. Well when they were still in the NICU, S often had As and Bs. This is part of the reason he was there for nearly 8 weeks. It took awhile for the doctors to find out it was all being caused by reflux. We always joked that Sam was just working on holding his breath because he is going to be a swimmer. As Sam has gotten older it seems as though he and I come from the same pool. (Ha ha...) My boy LOVES the water and I love that.

On Father's Day we had a picnic by a river and after throwing many rocks we got in. Now this is mountain stream water so it isn't warm but Sam threw a giant fit when we tried to take him out. He was in seventh heaven sitting and splashing in the water and grabbing rocks from the bottom to throw.

Little E is pretty happy here too but she wasn't about to sit in the water.  That and she kept falling down which made her very MAD.

He has always loved the pool. He tries to blow bubble but really just licks the water. He loves to splash. The first time we went swimming his dad even took him under a waterfall. His sister on the other hand screamed the whole time she was in the water.

A couple of days ago we were watching some older kids and we thought it would be fun to get the plastic kids pool out. Well, Paul decided to get the sprinkler first. It was still mid-morning and not too warm and I wasn't sure I wanted the kids wet yet. Well, once the water was on S and the dog were in it. In minutes Sam was dripping wet. He happily played in the sprinkler and then in the pool until it was time to get out. He was the only one, out of the 4, who actually sat down in the water. Last time we played in the little pool he spent the whole time laughing hysterically at our dog, who loves to "catch" splashes. Those two will have YEARS of fun in the water together.

Notice the very dry little girl next to him. She eventually got in but she wasn't so sure about the sprinkler.

I'm excited for the years to come of spending time in the water. I hope that as the kids get bigger and learn to swim that they still find joy in getting wet. I hope they are never fearful, but cautious and careful around the water. Most of all I hope they find a little slice of the comfort and calm in the water that I found growing up. If Sam (or Emily) decides to be a swimmer I will do my best to get him to early morning practices and sit through DAYS of meets to watch him swim for a total of 5 minutes because I know how important time in the water can be. If he just wants to play in it that is fine with me too.

I dip, You dip, We dip

Your Papa is helping you discover dips. We got you to try salsa a couple of weeks ago and since then you've been wanting to dip your food in whatever is around.

Thursday you had a blackbean burger from SmashBurger, but you weren't interested in eating it. I gave you ketchup and you dipped away, but not eating any of the food, just the ketchup. I gave you a pickle and you mostly used that to eat your ketchup. On Friday we went out to dinner and Papa was giving you his fries and letting you dip them in ranch. Saturday morning you were still hungry after breakfast so I was giving you Frosted Mini Wheats, which you were having a hard time eating with your lack of front teeth. I gave you a small bowl of milk and you happily dipped your Mini Wheats and were able to eat them.

 Last night you were drinking your water and standing in the plastic swimming pool and you were dipping your cup into the water then taking drinks. Such a silly girl.

First Class

Today was the first day of gymnastics class for Sam and Emily.  Since I'm a part-time stay at home mom for the summer I wanted the kids to experience classes during the summer since I can't make it work during the school year.  I debated about classes but the only real options were swimming or gymnastics.  (We had to fudge a little bit about Sam and Emily's age to get in.)  Swimming was eliminated because we thought I could take them instead of taking a class.  So... gymnastics it was. 

Neither Paul nor I are gymnastically inclined.  Other words - we aren't flexible, we aren't overly strong, and we are above average in height.  So this may be the only chance the kids get to pretend to be gymnasts.  I remember my mom telling me a story about my short lived gymnastics career.  It involved a mention of how tall I was at about age 4 and that I should just give it up.  (Is that right mom?)  I have never been able to do a cartwheel or a handstand.

We rushed around with dinner to get to the rec center on time.  And we arrived just as they were opening the doors to the gym.  It seemed like all the other kids and parents knew just what to do.  We went in and sat in a circle.  It was pretty obvious that Sam and Emily were just about the youngest ones in the class.  There is one other little boy is pretty close to their age. 

We did a short warm-up.  Or we pretended to and then we were off to do obstacle type activities.  They involved jumping, forward rolls, jumping, hanging on bars, walking on balance beams, rolling and crawling over or through objects.  Paul and I tried to decide where to start and we chose the rolling.  They really aren't ready for most of the other stuff. They liked to do the forward rolls with the help of the teacher.  Emily loved the mats.  She would almost lay down and "swim" on them and giggle.  She was in heaven.  Sam on the other hand wasn't as jazzed as little E.  He did do great on the balance beam and I was impressed with his ability to stay on the beam.  Emily just stepped and hoped that you would keep her up. 

With about 5 minutes left in class the teacher got out the parachute.  She asked Emily to help spread it out (since we had done enough rolling for the night and were standing nearby).  I wasn't sure what the kids would do with the parachute.  I thought it might scare E, but it was almost the other way around.  Sam took a while to warm up and just wanted to stay on my lap whereas Paul had to get up a retrieve Emily from the other side of the parachute.  She was all over and giggling while walking on the parachute. 

Although the kids can't quite do all the activities it is still great for them to be in a class with other kids.  They also get to do different activities than we normally do which is beneficial too.  I think they are one step closer to being able to roll down hills after today's class. 

We can't wait for next week!

What we wore to class.   Yes, they are a little bit of a fashion disaster but I'm just teaching them early that you don't have to look spectacular when you go to the gym.  I wasn't sure about socks and shoes, so next time E won't have look as silly.