Friday

The middle of November is upon us!  How can it be?  I think I'm in a time warp.  Or a vortex.  Or a black hole.  Maybe a vacuum?  Please don't mention "vacuum" again, okay?  I'm just trying to post here!  Oh, that's right, I brought that up.  

What was I saying?  November 14th.  Friday, November 14th.  And we are just as busy as ever (and still not managing to get much done-what is that phenomenon called?).  We began our day by getting Christian to school and then heading out to Eliana's swim lesson.  Except it's actually a float lesson, because she's too little to get the edge of the pool and get out.  But float lesson sounds kind of weird, so I still say swim lesson.  This was her third week.  That sounds wrong, but it's not.  She has done an amazing job and has a great float.  She doesn't like the lessons at all; several of my friends have asked that question.  But the point is that she will know what to do if she happened to fall into a body of water without an adult around.  I know, when would she be away from me?  But accidents happen all the time and drowning scares me out of my mind.  Our two older kids went throught the same program in Kentucky, and it was impressive.  We had a pool there, so it was even more urgent that they knew how to rescue themselves.  Fortunately we never needed to test out the skills in an emergency.  They are both great swimmers now, though, and I love knowing that they are equipped. 

Back to Eliana's swimming (floating!)...our instructor is very gentle and kind.  She never throws Eliana into the water, she moves slowly and deliberately in order to help Eliana know exactly what is expected of her.  And Eliana got it right away. 

The first thing Sheri does is put her on her back.  What is interesting to me is that every child I've seen do this has his or her own "style" of float.  Eliana is pretty still, and her toes are pointed up to the sky.  She makes little fists.  She's not very relaxed, but she can keep herself floating for a good period of time.  She has figured out that if she ducks her chin, her mouth goes under the water, so the key is to keep her head back.  She corrects herself quickly if she does look down for some reason.  Sheri flips her gently, and immediately Eliana heads back around so that she is on her back.

It's almost funny to watch because she starts to turn over onto her back before she is even under the water fully.  She knows what she is supposed to do and does not want to be under water face down any longer than necessary. 

She has floated near the wall (which freaks some kids out), near the steps, around the jet, and next to the instructor.  She maintains her float all the time.  She has been on the wall, and Sheri let her plop into the water...

and she immediately (you can see her starting to roll around even before she's left the wall) turns onto her back.

She works very hard during her lessons (which are super short because of their intensity), and I'm proud of her.  Even though she has no idea why she has to go through this. 

She recovers pretty quickly, but she's always very tired.  Every day after the lesson on the drive home she falls asleep.  It is 30 minutes away, and she just konks right out.  Today, oddly enough, she noticed that Michaela had crackers in the car and she wanted some, so she stayed awake the whole way back to our house. 

Happy with cracker...

 I love this girl's toes!

And this one...I can't keep her from reading in the car!  I'm afraid she's going to throw up or something, but she says she won't!

She's a trooper.  She goes along for the drive, sits throught the lesson, and then the drive back home.  She never complains about it.

I got gas on the way home, and while I was standing at the pump I read the warning sign that's posted on the side, just because.  It said...

I'm so glad that I had that warning before I did something really stupid.  I'm prone to, you know. 

When we get home from the lessons, I give Eliana a bath to rinse off all that chlorine.  Today, Michaela took it upon herself to do the whole thing almost entirely on her own. 

Ironically, ever since her swimming lessons started, Eliana has loved her bath much more than ever before.  She cries when we get her out.  (I have to tell you, I almost accidentally wrote "dries" instead of "cries" but it totally would have made sense.  Isn't that funny.  Hilarious, I  know.) 

We finally were able to get to some schoolwork; Michaela did some Math first. 

Eliana ate a little cereal, did a little drawing, and then she was ready to go!

So, I'm sad to say that Math got interrupted by a dance party. 

Too bad it's Friday, because these girls have Saturday night fever!

Finally we were able to get back to Math; I gave Eliana a drink, and Michaela got one too.  Please, someone tell me, am I missing something here?

And Eliana is into experiments...she is working on "you can't put a round peg in a square hole."

Sorry, that wasn't so funny.  She is, though.  She finally petered out and had to take a nap.

And Michaela and I moved on to Grammar and Writing.

While Eliana was napping (in her own bed, not on my lap!), the kids had some down time.  Michaela read a book, Christian played a computer game, and I wrote a letter!  It was so nice.  The house was pretty quiet, and everyone was content with what they were doing.  It was a lovely moment.

Once Eliana woke up, we headed to the playground.  It was a gorgeous afternoon.  And the kids had so much fun.  There are a lot of pictures here, so look if you want, or don't!

Mike returned home from out-of-town shortly after we finished dinner, and just in time for getting-ready-for-bed.  He had hardly gotten in the door before Christian was eagerly sharing some of the things he had made for Dad's Night (www.fivewalkers.com/).

We finished up with a silly book read by Daddy, and then off to bed.  I think that sounds like a great idea myself.  See you all tomorrow! 

Comments

[Kristina Zirschky]

Your kids are soooooo adorable.

I love the float class. I have never heard of that before. I would love to do that for Anna.

I love reading your posts. Even though we were only living here in Princeton at the end of your stay I totally hear your voice in your writing. It's just like I remember you when you were here. Hopefully I will see you again sometime soon.

[Ali Kat]

I wanted to say so many things that I actually wrote them down, ha, ha :P She's doing good. Most kids that young don't like floating on their backs. I see you have steps, does Sheri blow bubbles and play games with her, too? You have very beautiful girls (and a great helper)! I love the dance pics - what a great idea (except that our camera would never work that fast, guess I'll have to wait for that dream camera hubby is supposed to get me). Oh, I wish my monkey would sleep on me - she only does if she's really sick, and then, I'm so exhausted that I can't really enjoy it ;)