Every single day!

Like every other parent that I know around here, we have had a swim or dive meet every night this week.  Add to that, the morning practices and we basically live at the pool.   Having not grown up in this culture of "Your life revolves around the pool during the summer", I am a little mystified and exhausted.  I would just not bother, but it leaves my kids with no other children to play with.  All the other kids are doing the same thing! And I am not kidding!  I only know of 3 children NOT on a summer swim team.  And honestly for a set daily schedule in the summer and a way to make sure the kids are getting exercise, the price is great. at least it basically sucks up July and leaves August alone. So normally August is very relaxing. (Unless I am silly enough to sign up the kids for football or cheerleading!- Not on your life!  The 6 year olds practice 4 days a week!  Seriously?  Why does a 6 year old need that much practice?)   Thankfully we have friends whose father played football in college and he insists that his boys not play until 6th grade.  Thank you Lord for leading them into my life. I am so grateful that I can have the same rule and "prove" that you can still play football in college if you start 6 years later!  I am so grateful for other parents advice and council.  It is things like this that make it easier for me to be a parent.  Who said you can't use peer pressure against your kids?  Probably the best thing you can do is band together.

***Don't know why this didn't get posted months ago-but this is from July 15th, but posted November 19 2010

Picnic

Honey's office has an annual picnic which we like to attend because they have found a good combination of location, timing and food.  The location has just the right amount of shade, which should not be discounted because there is nothing worse than a picnic that is hot and miserable.  It also has a playground, ball field and bathrooms close by.  As any parent of little ones knows, there is nothing worse than a LONG walk to a bathroom.

Here are Honey & Elizabeth enjoying the shade.

We took  L♡♡ with us, event though she arrived just yesterday afternoon.  We have a busy first few days planned for her, but we are so glad that she is here.

Keener seems to be having fun with her already!  Goofy Girl, always making silly faces!

Faking it.

Now that summer has started, I live at the pool almost every day.   With swim team and dive team, it is inevitable that I go every day.  Keener  loves going and most spends a lot of time swimming by herself or with the other 2-4 year olds that hang out near the entry steps into the pool.  The main difference is that she is the only one who is able to swim at the age of 3.  Like Rolo, she is 95% self taught.  I learned a lot from Elizabeth and Christopher about how to teach a child to swim.  The biggest mistake that I (and others) make: showing fear.

  Teaching a kid to swim is all about the fake.  You have to pretend that you are not worried about her drowning.  You have to pretend that when she goes under the water and comes up coughing, that your child must have had a wonderful time doing so.  You need to congratulate her on how much fun she must be having.  Tell her that she did a good job putting her face under the water.  Tell her she is a great swimmer. Why?  because, then she will want to do it again.  So how does this work? You have confused your child.  She is thinking "That wasn't very fun, why is Mommy so excited?" Then she becomes interested in making swimming fun.  She has to figure out a way to find the joy.  She also will start to watch the other kids swim and learn from them.  This is not to say that I do not use other swimming devices (the baby swimming ring, the vest, and a swim noodle) to help my kids learn, but "the fake" is my most effective weapon.
    Right now my only problem is the other parents who keep trying to "save" her.  As if I would not be watching my child in the water!  Oh well, they can enjoy their own clinging child pulling down their bathing suit and scratching them to pieces for a few more years, while I enjoy watching mine swim!

Playtime in the water.

       Keener has enjoyed playing in the old sandbox and using it as a pool for the summer.  It makes my afternoons easier to have her occupied.  She has a LOT of energy and has a HUGE personality.  Isn't that such a nice way of saying that my child can be a brat?
Since I love her, I accept the good and the bad?!  She is so strong willed that at times I find it hard to balance.  I want her to be the fiercely independent and adventurous person that she naturally is, but I also need her to learn to be respectful and obedient.  It is those fights for obedience that are difficult.  But hopefully with perseverance, I will be able to achieve a happy medium.

Month of Miracles.

          Whew!  I'm through with May!  I called this the "Month of Miracles" because baby's chance of surviving if born any day during the month went from 10% to 85%.  What a dramatic difference 5 weeks makes.  I started the month at 25 weeks and ended at 30 weeks.  Every day made a huge difference in the life of my newest little one.  I am very excited to have 10 weeks left and looking forward to meeting the newest little family member.
      I just hope I can stand the heat of summer.  I love the heat and hate it at the same time.  I try every year to not turn the A/C on until June 1st and so far so good.  It seems silly, but I think that I should try to get myself adjusted to the heat a little bit.  Besides, I do love the fresh air and I love just having the doors open so the kids can run in and out.  It eliminates the "CLOSE THE DOOR!!" rant that I am forced to make when the A/C is on.  I love hearing the birds, squirrels, crickets and  the sweet smells of summer like honeysuckle, lilac, roses, gardenias.  Mmmmm, makes me want a glass of sun tea, a pool and a good book.  I hope your summer is starting off nicely too.

Sign of Summer

As I was coming inside the house tonight I saw my first Firefly.  He was a feisty little one and I had to put him in a glass to get a photo.  I always see them as a sign of the summer and I was grateful to see him.  Maybe it will stay warm for a while.  The biggest problem I have with living here is that the cold just does not "get out of my bones from the winter"  I normally feel a lot better when I go visit my mom in the summer because it is just a little bit warmer and I can get the chill out.  Here's to us all having a Happy Summer!