Amelia and William are so different. All the time we are noticing ways in which the two are different. William knows the words to a lot of songs. But, he rarely sings. Ever.
Mia loves to sing. She recently started singing along when we sing at night. She doesn't sing many actual words that you might recognize, but it is still very, very cute.
Here she is singing one of her favorites Old McDonald with Grandma Gerry when we were in Grand Forks.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Swimming Lessons
**I've been working on this post for a long time now. We have now used close to 99% of the storage Blogger allows for pictures, video, etc. I'm not sure what we need to do to get back on track, but time has been very short as of late. We do have more swimming pictures, video to share...check back soon. Or in December :)
Amelia had her swimming lessons first. I usually got in with her because she is really truly a Mama's girl. Daddy got in with her twice and she spent a lot of her time trying to get to me instead of blowing bubbles. Plus, it was nicer to be in the pool when the temperature is 100 degrees (no exaggeration here, the temperature was at or over 100 for most of our swimming days - such a difference from last year!). Although the water is not exactly refreshing after baking in the heat all day. Most days it was like getting into a warm bath - yuck! It beat sitting on the hot concrete outside the pool though!
Amelia is totally fearless when it comes to the water and being around it. My heart may have permanently taken up residence in my throat after the last two weeks. She runs into the pool, dips her head in the water, and splashes herself without hesitation. She also jumps gleefully from the edge whether I am looking or not. Giggling. I will admit I harbored a jealous grudge towards the other mamas in our class. The other babies in the class were not mobile and were happy parked on their behinds in the shallow end with a water can for entertainment. Not our Amelia. She ran laps in, out and around the pool with me chasing her every which way. The other mamas sat and gabbed while their sweet babies played quietly at their feet. My sweet baby spent her time alternating between running away from me and then shrieking when I carried her back to her classmates at the shallow end of the pool. I got quite the workout! Skills wise, Amelia did some great kicking and perfected her bubble blowing skills. She jumped fearlessly to me until somehow I let her scrape her arm on the way into the pool one time. Then she spent her time trying to run away, giggling like crazy. All in all, I was exhausted every evening and she had a good time wearing me out.
We weren't able to find swimming lessons for both kids at the same time which meant William had to wait his turn.
Which really was hard for him when he really wanted to get in and play in the water with Amelia.
Amelia had to do some waiting too after her lesson. Oftentimes one of us would just take her home - she is SUCH a handful to watch in the pool area! If you take your eyes off her for a moment she would be climbing into the pool fully dressed with shoes on. Or digging in the garbage can. Or investigating the contents of another mom's diaper bag.
This is the first year William is actually old enough to get in without a parent. He was so excited and PROUD to be swimming with the other kids. Just look at his cute little face in the above picture. John and I attempted to calmly watch the lesson from the deck chairs. Each evening I, in particular, would resolve to sit back and watch so as not to put unneeded pressure on William. I wanted him to have fun and learn without me breathing down his neck. Without fail moments in to the lesson, we both transformed ourselves into Helicopter Parents and hovered close by for the entire lesson. We tried, honestly. But failed. We clapped, we cheered, we hissed at him to sit DOWN and LISTEN. We were excited, thrilled and disappointed all in a 25 minute lesson. I'm not sure if William even knew we were there.
He very much admired his teacher, Tori and was so EXCITED about swimming.
_______________________________________________
We enjoyed two whirlwind weeks of swimming lessons here. We were at the pool every evening Monday through Thursday. Which was a lot of fun - but I think I ready to have some evenings left without rush, rush, rushing around. Both kids did really well with the lessons.Amelia had her swimming lessons first. I usually got in with her because she is really truly a Mama's girl. Daddy got in with her twice and she spent a lot of her time trying to get to me instead of blowing bubbles. Plus, it was nicer to be in the pool when the temperature is 100 degrees (no exaggeration here, the temperature was at or over 100 for most of our swimming days - such a difference from last year!). Although the water is not exactly refreshing after baking in the heat all day. Most days it was like getting into a warm bath - yuck! It beat sitting on the hot concrete outside the pool though!
Amelia is totally fearless when it comes to the water and being around it. My heart may have permanently taken up residence in my throat after the last two weeks. She runs into the pool, dips her head in the water, and splashes herself without hesitation. She also jumps gleefully from the edge whether I am looking or not. Giggling. I will admit I harbored a jealous grudge towards the other mamas in our class. The other babies in the class were not mobile and were happy parked on their behinds in the shallow end with a water can for entertainment. Not our Amelia. She ran laps in, out and around the pool with me chasing her every which way. The other mamas sat and gabbed while their sweet babies played quietly at their feet. My sweet baby spent her time alternating between running away from me and then shrieking when I carried her back to her classmates at the shallow end of the pool. I got quite the workout! Skills wise, Amelia did some great kicking and perfected her bubble blowing skills. She jumped fearlessly to me until somehow I let her scrape her arm on the way into the pool one time. Then she spent her time trying to run away, giggling like crazy. All in all, I was exhausted every evening and she had a good time wearing me out.
We weren't able to find swimming lessons for both kids at the same time which meant William had to wait his turn.
Which really was hard for him when he really wanted to get in and play in the water with Amelia.
Amelia had to do some waiting too after her lesson. Oftentimes one of us would just take her home - she is SUCH a handful to watch in the pool area! If you take your eyes off her for a moment she would be climbing into the pool fully dressed with shoes on. Or digging in the garbage can. Or investigating the contents of another mom's diaper bag.
He very much admired his teacher, Tori and was so EXCITED about swimming.With some of our previous struggles with fear of water and resistance to swimming, this was a wonderful thing. He jumped, he splashed and he tried very hard to do what the teacher was asking. He had to work VERY hard to relax in the water in order to float on his back. My poor baby was so scared the first time. His body was stiff with fear and I could see him struggling - I just really wanted to jump in and rescue him. But, as if by magic, he allowed himself to relax in his teacher's arms until he was floating with assistance. With his HEAD in the WATER touching his EARS. This is Big News people. I had tears in my eyes because I knew how hard he was having to work and how afraid he was. But he did it and a LOT of other new things too.
Skill wise, William grew by leaps and bounds this year. Enough that I am considering signing him up again this fall for the same class to keep the positive feeling and cement some of his new skills. William allowed his face to get in the water, he jumped willingly into the pool, and tried just about everything the teacher asked him to do. He floated on his front and back with help. He kicked his feet on his front and back and reached for weighted eggs in deepish water. The only part he flat out refused to participate in was putting his whole head under water. He wouldn't be peer pressured, bribed, bullied or otherwise convinced that it was a good idea to put his whole head under water. No way, no how. Not even after two weeks of swimming classes (minus the two days he was sick, poor guy).
Funny William story:
The teacher had explained the crawl stroke to the kids as using your hands to reach out into the water and scoop it up toward yourself like spooning ice cream from a bowl into your mouth. Every night she would review the skill and remind them to scoop some ice cream with their hands. Because of the age of the students, the kids got individual turns with the teacher assisting them. It was William's turn and John was watching when he noticed on every stroke, William was opening his mouth and pushing water in. When William's turn was over and another student started, John asked William what he had been doing. William replied, "Eating my ice cream!"
Skill wise, William grew by leaps and bounds this year. Enough that I am considering signing him up again this fall for the same class to keep the positive feeling and cement some of his new skills. William allowed his face to get in the water, he jumped willingly into the pool, and tried just about everything the teacher asked him to do. He floated on his front and back with help. He kicked his feet on his front and back and reached for weighted eggs in deepish water. The only part he flat out refused to participate in was putting his whole head under water. He wouldn't be peer pressured, bribed, bullied or otherwise convinced that it was a good idea to put his whole head under water. No way, no how. Not even after two weeks of swimming classes (minus the two days he was sick, poor guy).
Funny William story:
The teacher had explained the crawl stroke to the kids as using your hands to reach out into the water and scoop it up toward yourself like spooning ice cream from a bowl into your mouth. Every night she would review the skill and remind them to scoop some ice cream with their hands. Because of the age of the students, the kids got individual turns with the teacher assisting them. It was William's turn and John was watching when he noticed on every stroke, William was opening his mouth and pushing water in. When William's turn was over and another student started, John asked William what he had been doing. William replied, "Eating my ice cream!"
Thursday, July 29, 2010
William conversations v.2
One of the skills were are working with William on is counting. He and I were practicing while we were out shopping the other day and got all the way up to 49 when he was distracted by something.
Mama: What comes after 49?
William: 5-T*
**We're gearing up for preschool around here!
***Now that I think about it, I think this song is from a Leapfrog DVD we checked out from the library and watched once on the way to Grandma's house.
Mama: What comes after 49?
William: 5-T*
_________________________
*I think this is because we talked about how forty is like the number 4. Maybe. Who knows what is going on inside his head.Another skill** we are working on is identifying the beginning letter sounds of words. William thinks this is a really fun game. He especially likes to sing a song about each letter like this:
ex: "The A says ahhh the A says ahh! Every letter makes a sound, the A says ahhhh and aaaaa."***
Then we each take a few turns coming up with a word that starts with that letter.
The other day we got to the letter G, sang our song and I waited while William thought about a word that started with G. What did he come up with? Garlic. For some reason this was so unexpected to me, I had to ask him to repeat himself. Twice.
ex: "The A says ahhh the A says ahh! Every letter makes a sound, the A says ahhhh and aaaaa."***
Then we each take a few turns coming up with a word that starts with that letter.
The other day we got to the letter G, sang our song and I waited while William thought about a word that started with G. What did he come up with? Garlic. For some reason this was so unexpected to me, I had to ask him to repeat himself. Twice.
**We're gearing up for preschool around here!
***Now that I think about it, I think this song is from a Leapfrog DVD we checked out from the library and watched once on the way to Grandma's house.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
A conversation
The other day, I sat down to play duplos (interlocking blocks) with William.
Me: I am going to make a stack just using the blue [duplo] blocks (thinks to herself: look! counting, sorting, cooperative play. Mother of the Year Material here!)
William: I will make my stack out of the white blocks...short discussion ensues regarding the stacking method, etc.
Me: How many blocks are in my tower? (Smug. I am awesome at this parenting stuff.)
William: I made a ishinging stick!
Me: (What are you talking about? Must redirect.) How many blocks are in your tower?
William: I will turn you into something with my special ishinging stick!
Me: (Seriously, what are you talking about?) What are you going to do?
William: I will turn you into a beautiful OVEN with my special ishing* stick!! Are you ready?
Me: (Now I finally understand WHAT he is saying. But, what does one reply to something like this?) An oven?
W: YES! A beautiful OVEN! It will be FUN!
Me: (Imagining what pretend play potential there is with an oven. Not finding much there.) Really? An oven? Can I make cookie for you?
W: No. You will just sit and open the door on your belly.
Me: (Where did this go wrong? And how do I end this? Soon. Distraction. I will distract him.) I wonder what Daddy is doing now?
*wishing
Me: I am going to make a stack just using the blue [duplo] blocks (thinks to herself: look! counting, sorting, cooperative play. Mother of the Year Material here!)
William: I will make my stack out of the white blocks...short discussion ensues regarding the stacking method, etc.
Me: How many blocks are in my tower? (Smug. I am awesome at this parenting stuff.)
William: I made a ishinging stick!
Me: (What are you talking about? Must redirect.) How many blocks are in your tower?
William: I will turn you into something with my special ishinging stick!
Me: (Seriously, what are you talking about?) What are you going to do?
William: I will turn you into a beautiful OVEN with my special ishing* stick!! Are you ready?
Me: (Now I finally understand WHAT he is saying. But, what does one reply to something like this?) An oven?
W: YES! A beautiful OVEN! It will be FUN!
Me: (Imagining what pretend play potential there is with an oven. Not finding much there.) Really? An oven? Can I make cookie for you?
W: No. You will just sit and open the door on your belly.
Me: (Where did this go wrong? And how do I end this? Soon. Distraction. I will distract him.) I wonder what Daddy is doing now?
*wishing
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Writing!
William wrote his name (well, part of it) all by himself yesterday! This has been a LONG time coming and he has been very stubborn about it - I'm trying to keep my Mama zen about all things happening when he is ready. It's been hard on me to wait though! I think (hope?)we're going to see a lot more writing soon! Yay!
Also, he colored me this alligator, which tickled me pink (green?)
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The Missing Post: VBS
We did Vacation Bible School again this year at our church before we left to go on vacation. It was a whirlwind of fun, as always! Somehow it just didn't get put up here yet!
Mama teaching - it's what she does
Sometime she dresses up to tell the story. Not that William listens any better (it was SO interesting for me to see William in a group and how his behavior was different)
Daddy carried Amelia on his back and was the official Photographer. The director of the program loved having a lot of pictures to pick from!
Amelia also got to hang out with the high school helpers when they weren't busy. She LOVED music time!
William has talked someone else into reading him a book!
He listened (sometimes) to stories told by Mama
Tracing the kids shapes outside - William's super creative/fun/wonderful teacher had some pretty interesting shaped students (shape on the above right). The kids LOVED standing up to find themselves as a whale/alligator/monkey. PS She is an art student.
He drew with chalk
He did fun crafts
He ate delicious snacks 
Sang some songs (although, I will admit this is probably the part he liked the least)
William also got to play some games (I don't know what they were doing here..)
Made friends (and did A LOT of running)
Played with water balloons
And this picture shows why I am totally in love with his teacher. William had a water balloon and before he started playing a game, it popped all over his shirt. You could see the emotions playing across his face - he wasn't sure if he should cry or be mad or...when he looked up at Jessie (teacher), she laughed at him and said "That was SO silly!" William thought for a split second and laughed too. He continued to laugh about that silly balloon for the rest of the week. Which is why I will be taking her with me on every trip/vacation after I win the lottery. She was WONDERFUL with William and handled his poor tired, overstimulated self like a pro. We'll be sad when she goes back to school in a few short weeks! It sure does take some very special people to make a VBS run!
Conned someone else into reading him a book!
He even got to color his own Tshirt
Mama and Mia on the last night - there wasn't any teaching responsibilities so I was free to enjoy myself!
The kids singing during their final night - William is in the front row, center with blue/green striped shorts
Amelia enjoyed the cookies with dinner on Friday night (we had a cookout at church)
She also enjoyed hanging out with a kiddo her age in the ball pool
William enjoyed the boat races
Sliding down the giant slide
Getting temporary tattoos
He also requested this cool white snake - painted by his very talented VBS teacher!
Those blue eyes! He was so sad when that snake washed off - I finally convinced him it had crawled into his ear to take a nap. Both kids were SO over tired by the end of the week the smallest thing would set them off.
Mama teaching - it's what she does
Sometime she dresses up to tell the story. Not that William listens any better (it was SO interesting for me to see William in a group and how his behavior was different)
Daddy carried Amelia on his back and was the official Photographer. The director of the program loved having a lot of pictures to pick from!
Amelia also got to hang out with the high school helpers when they weren't busy. She LOVED music time!
William has talked someone else into reading him a book!
He listened (sometimes) to stories told by Mama
Tracing the kids shapes outside - William's super creative/fun/wonderful teacher had some pretty interesting shaped students (shape on the above right). The kids LOVED standing up to find themselves as a whale/alligator/monkey. PS She is an art student.
He drew with chalk
He did fun crafts
He ate delicious snacks 
Sang some songs (although, I will admit this is probably the part he liked the least)
William also got to play some games (I don't know what they were doing here..)
Made friends (and did A LOT of running)
Played with water balloons
And this picture shows why I am totally in love with his teacher. William had a water balloon and before he started playing a game, it popped all over his shirt. You could see the emotions playing across his face - he wasn't sure if he should cry or be mad or...when he looked up at Jessie (teacher), she laughed at him and said "That was SO silly!" William thought for a split second and laughed too. He continued to laugh about that silly balloon for the rest of the week. Which is why I will be taking her with me on every trip/vacation after I win the lottery. She was WONDERFUL with William and handled his poor tired, overstimulated self like a pro. We'll be sad when she goes back to school in a few short weeks! It sure does take some very special people to make a VBS run!
Conned someone else into reading him a book!
He even got to color his own Tshirt
Mama and Mia on the last night - there wasn't any teaching responsibilities so I was free to enjoy myself!
The kids singing during their final night - William is in the front row, center with blue/green striped shorts
Amelia enjoyed the cookies with dinner on Friday night (we had a cookout at church)
She also enjoyed hanging out with a kiddo her age in the ball pool
William enjoyed the boat races
Sliding down the giant slide
Getting temporary tattoos
He also requested this cool white snake - painted by his very talented VBS teacher!
Those blue eyes! He was so sad when that snake washed off - I finally convinced him it had crawled into his ear to take a nap. Both kids were SO over tired by the end of the week the smallest thing would set them off.Sunday, July 18, 2010
Potato, Potato
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