Swim lessons, swim lessons, and more swim lessons

Sorry, no new pictures to post. As the title of this post states, all we do now is swim lessons. Our days have been all about time management, packing suppers, packing swim gear, and swimming. Leah continues to have swim lessons Monday through Thursday. Three weeks down and one more to go. She is developing more skills and can actually swim from point A to point B, as long as she does not know she is swimming where she can't stand. The big achievement of this week was jumping off the diving board to me and then swimming back to the edge of the pool. At first, this was not something she wanted to do. Her swim lesson class started going off the board on Tuesday. Leah was the only one to decide she was NOT going off the board. She came crying over to me as her class went to the deep end. I walked over with her and persuaded her to go off the board and jump to me. So here Leah was, crying on the diving board with her teacher telling her she did not have to jump and me telling her to JUMP. She finally did to a round of applause, and she has been jumping ever since. I created a monster because now that is all she wants to do. Unfortunately, I don't always have someone to watch Emme. Leah is not at the point where I or she is comfortable with her going without me in the water, although she has jumped off and swam to the side without assistance the last few days.

Emme is also gaining new water skills. She is sitting on the edge of the pool at the 4 foot end and "jumping" into the water. Amazingly she is not upset in the least about going under the water. She comes up for air giggling and wants to do it again. We are working on swimming with water wings to help keep her afloat.

Both Leah and I have made some new friends at the pool, even some children that she will be attending Kindergarten with in the fall. We have also are starting to become good friends with a single mom and her daughter that she adopted from China. We met last year at the pool and then seemed to see each other everywhere. They now belong to Coney and her daughter takes swim lessons at the same time as Leah. It has been nice to have someone to talk to, and keep an eye on Emme as needed (whenever Leah wants to jump off the board). The girls have gotten together on several occasions for outings.

This week I will be preparing for our annual trip to the beach. (In between work, swim lessons and more swim lessons) I can't wait to see the family and introduce Emme to all her cousins she had not yet met. Packing will prove interesting with the increased gear that is needed when traveling with a baby. But I know Leah will have a great time and Emme should enjoy the beach based on her love of the water so far. I promise to have many pictures once home from the beach for everyone to enjoy.

Jeanne

Tired girls

I have 2 tired little girls on my hands. We had a busy week at our house. Emme's regular sitter is on vacation, so I had a friend's daughter, Amelia, watch Emme 3 days this week. She is not driving yet, so her parents brought her to me in the mornings and I took her home after work. However, Leah also started swimming lessons this week. So I came home from work, at 5:00, picked Leah up at daycamp, picked Emme and Amelia up at home, packed everyone in the car, took Amelia home, drove to Coney, changed into swimsuits, ate dinner, swam a little before lessons, went to lessons at 7:00 and finally back into the car to go home and straight to bed. I think I was the most exhausted of all. Emme did better than anticipated with both the new sitter and with staying up past her 7:00 bed time. Leah proved that she has grown up in the last few years by going to lessons without my help and participating fully with what was being instructed. This was not only evident to me, but also to the instructor who just happened to be the same teacher she had when she first started lessons. At the tender age of 3, Leah refused to be separated from me, and cried through most of the lessons. Her teacher was very impressed with how far she had come not only with swimming techniques, but also in maturity.

The pool has become our home away from home, and we will continue to have lessons 4 times a week for 3 more weeks. I am increasing becoming various shades of pink and red from the sun. Leah and Emme are becoming various shades of brown. It does not matter how much sun screen I apply, they tan and I burn. I envy their skin tone.

This weekend we had fun with relatives we don't get a chance to see too often. On Saturday, we went to the Eveslage house to visit with my Aunt Barbara and Uncle John from Alabama and their daughter Julie, who is visiting from Australia with her 3 children. Zack is Leah's age and her twin girls, Abby and Zoe, just turned 3. It was fun watching them play together and watching Emme toddle after them. On Sunday, I met up with my Uncle Tom and Aunt Susan who came up from Florida to visit with my Grandma Radcliffe. It was the first time for them to meet Emme. One day I hope to get down to Florida so that Emme and Leah can meet their cousins Emily and Luke.

So lots of running around was done this week and weekend. Which led to some very tired girls (myself included). I took these pictures after coming home from the pool one evening. It all starts again on Monday.

Fun in the sun

It has been a relatively uneventful week. Life becomes a routine for a while, which is nice. Next week our routine will change as swim lessons start, which means we will be spending most nights at the pool. Luckily, Leah does not mind cool water. Emme may not be too happy about swim lessons as they infringe on her bedtime. I signed Leah up for the 7:00pm lessons and Emme is usually in bed by 7:30. But the 6:00 lesson time just did not leave enough room in the day to pick both kids up, have dinner and get to the pool on time.

Leah is enjoying the summer weather. Her daycare has a summer program that transports the kids to different field trips and activities throughout the summer. Leah loves the bus rides sometimes more that the trip itself. Last week they had a picnic in the park and went to Build A Bear, where they each got a stuffed animal to make and bring home. Build A Bear just happens to be one of Leah's favorite places.

Emme is into exploring her world on 2 feet. It's amazing that you wait and wait and wait for your child to start walking, and once they do you forget how nice it was when they stayed put. Emme is determined to walk in the opposite direction that I want her to go. She also wants to climb onto everything. This week she has also figured out how to ride on her little bike, although she is determined to ride Leah's big bike.

I have posted pictures of Leah, Emme and Leah's friend Maria on the play set that they all so enjoy. It is so nice that Leah has a neighbor friend. Right now they are sitting on the family room floor watching Nemo together. For the most part they play great together, although they both like to be the boss.

Next week not only is the start of swim lessons, but it also will be the first time Emme will have a teenage babysitter. My usual sitter is on vacation, so Amelia, who has watched Leah in the past is coming over to watch Emme 3 days this week. It could be an adventure for both of them