Swim lessons and more

July 8-10
Another lazy weekend…boy, we are getting really good at this. It has been so dang hot that it is hard to do too much outside without having water or a pool involved!! Friday night, we had our usual date night…just got out for a couple hours. Saturday, Famous did a ton a lawn work and I did some much needed organizing and cleaning of my craft room….just needed to get it back in order. Chase took a really long nap which allowed me to do some scrapping in my clean craft room too. Sunday we had a family baby shower in the morning. Gavin and Chase got a chance to play together for a while too.

After the shower, we went swam with Adam, Stephanie and Harper. It was awesome to cool down and take a dip. We didn’t stay too long as Chase hadn’t had a nap and we were fearing a possible meltdown. We picked up pizza for dinner and he was asleep by the time we got home. Of course, he woke up as soon as we got home and was good for the rest of the night, but we went to bed early and he slept soundly all night. Just realizing now that I didn’t take a single picture from the weekend…oops!

July 11-17
Chase started his swim lessons this week. The first lesson was a flop…at least by my opinion (get ready for overbearing parent to step in here!). The whole scene seemed very unorganized and I was just not happy with Chase’s teacher. The lesson started with all the kids jumping in the water…which doesn’t seem like the most appropriate way to teach lessons…where are the fundamentals?? Then onto immersing under water to pick up a ring of the bottom of the pool??? Hey…what happened to blowing bubbles and putting your face under water?? And the teacher was not attentive at all…Chase wanted to jump in but you could tell he was anxious and she basically left him on the ledge until I asked her to help him. I wasn’t very happy, but like I said, I might have been a helicopter mom for a minute, but my feelings were confirmed after talking to a few people.

At the next lesson, we got a new teacher and although they basically did all the same things that the first one did, at least the new teacher was more attentive to the kids. The same teacher that had 5 kids on Tuesday, only had 2 on Thursday, so I am assuming other parents felt the same way.

Over the weekend, I showed up to the salon when I wasn’t supposed to work, so that set my day off on the wrong foot. But I did get to join Chase and Famous at Nana’s for breakfast, so that was nice. After naps (yes, me too!) we went for a drive and got some Zesto for a cool treat. Sunday, we cleaned house…man, I love a neat clean house and especially when I have help and it takes half the time. Then Famous did yard work and Chase and I decided to go see Cars 2. He did pretty good for the most part….of course, he spilled ½ the popcorn first thing and about got folded into his seat. He really wanted to play the games in the lobby more than watch the movie…luckily there were only about 20 people in the theater. If they would start the movie when they say, it would have been fine. But the give 20 minutes of previews and cartoons before the movie even starts….and by that time the popcorn was gone!! After the movie, we played air hockey and he won a stuffed giraffe....which impressed him more than the movie…oh well. Sunday night was a yummy dinner at Mom and Dad’s house then back to the grind!

Chop, chop, timber

Chase’s current favorites:
• Watching Calliou
• Singing songs
• Pretending to be Bob the Builder
• Yogurt popsicles, baby oranges, eggs, grilled cheese, McD’s nuggets and fries, popcorn
• Sipping mom’s diet mountain dew
• Going swimming and playing in the water
• Playing games
• Thomas the Train
• Monster trucks

Conversations W/ Chase (in the car on the way to the sitters)
C: Mom, is my ‘nother birthday tomorrow?
M: Nope, you’ve got a while to wait.
C: But when will my birthday arrive?
M: Another 6 months til your birthday bud.
C: Wow, that’s a long time mom.

July 18-24
Second week of swim lessons and Chase is progressing. I am happier with his new teacher. He is getting better and less nervous each time. He loves the water but is still so cautious. He will jump in a million times but you have to be right there to catch him…sometimes I don’t catch him and let him go on his own so he knows he can do it, but he is just right on the verge of doing it himself. He is the same way when floating on this belly and back….so scared to let go completely but wants to so badly. Thursday was parent’s night and boy, what a disaster! He definitely does much better with the teacher than with me. You know when people say kids are always better for someone other than their parents…so true and very apparent that night. Truthfully I am glad there is only one parent night…otherwise he wouldn’t learn a thing!!

I worked at the salon on Saturday and Chase, Famous and Nana spent the day together. They went to the library, played at the mall and got some lunch. He got some dentist books at the library since he is making his first official visit to the dentist in a few weeks. Now he knows all about going to the dentist…or so he says! Not much else going on…just trying to stay cool!

Look at that tongue!

Love this picture...looks like he is having a blast!

July 25-31
Third week of lessons….man, this seems like it has been going on for months!! A reprieve on Thursday as a big storm cloud blocked the sun during the lesson…best lesson yet!!! It is so stinking hot at the pool, even at 7pm and of course, usually the sun goes down beyond the trees about 3 minutes before the lesson is over!! Thursday, Chase’s swim teacher was a new guy…and Chase loved it. He just followed him around like a little brother wanting to hang out with his big brother. It was pretty cute. We have a tradition after every lesson….happy meal from the drive thru at Old McDonalds. Chase has to say hello to the cashiers at both windows, so I have to roll down the back window and practically pull past it so he can see them and say hello. He is quite the charmer!!

Potty training is kind of frustrating these days. He has the peeing down….goes when he needs to go, wakes up dry and has even gotten up twice in the middle of the night to go potty. But the poop is going to be the death of us. He will not go on the potty. He won’t tell us when he needs to go, when he sits on the potty…nothing and by the time we can tell he needs to go, it is too late. We take away toys, no cartoons, time outs…nothing works. He did great for a two week streak when he first started training but now, back to going in his pullup. Same for underwear. I have tried making him go naked, but that doesn’t last long. I am at a loss…..any advice out there???

Over the weekend, Chase and I and Beth and Gavin headed to Columbia to go to the splashground at Twin Lakes Park but of course, it rained as soon as we got there and didn't stop for a while. So we changed plans and tried Going Bonkers instead. The boys had lots of fun, although Chase didn't want to try the climbing high up...actually, it would have been high even for me. The "floors" of the play structure are made similar to the lawn chair webbing, so they had give to them and you could see all the way through to the bottom, so he was not really into it. But he still enjoyed the low play areas and really loved playing the games upstairs. It was a lot of fun and I know the boys enjoyed the day.

Little E... :)

Conversations W/ Chase (in the car as I am putting on my face powder…don’t judge!!)
Chase: Mom, what you need your marker for?
Mom: This? (holding up my compact) It’s makeup, bud.
Chase: What you need it for?
Mom: It makes mommy pretty.
Chase: Oh….and awesome and stuff?
Mom: Yes
Chase: And beautiful….and cool too?
Mom: You got it!!