Swimming and other things

Two weeks ago, the kids started up swimming lessons. To be honest, I wasn't sure how Collin would do being in a non-"parent & me" session and handling the deep side of the pool. The first 20 minutes of class are in the shallow(3-4 ft.) and the second 20 minutes are in the deep side(6 ft). The first few days, Collin had a really hard time. The second and third day I spent all but the last 5 minutes of each 20 minutes getting Collin in the water & staying in the water. I made quick acquaintances with the pool managers. I am happy to say that I am the only parent allowed to be all the way up next to the edge of the pool when I need to assist Collin--keeping him on task & being an extra set of eyes to make sure he does not let go of the pool.

By the end of the first week(each class lasts 2 weeks), Collin had decided he liked staying in the water. Now I just have to deal with keeping Collin on task & having a bored 2 year old--Brent just turned 2 on Friday. Drew was in Collin's class. Drew's done well enough to move up to the next swim level. Collin, no surprise, is in the same class as last week. He can do most things but won't put his head or face in the water without help. Ivy's doing well, as expected. This week, she's in a new class and actually learning new things.

Brent had his 2nd birthday on Friday. Thursday night I took Brent to Target to pick out a couple toys. Between the toy stimulus overload and close to bedtime--I didn't want to take all 4 kids if I could help it--we had some pretty serious tantrums. We finally(after over an hour) came home with a Lighting McQueen toy car that sticks out its tongue, a 5 pack of Hot Wheels cars, and a book about trucks. Tom got whisked away to a Scout campout, so we only saw him for about 30 minutes between Friday morning and about 2 pm on Saturday. He got a Funfetti(?) cake with homemade buttercream frosting--I almost had a cow that the cheapest storebought frosting was like $2 for a tiny thing. I drew Elmo on it. Didn't turn out as nice as I wanted, but it was still recognizable and enjoyed by all. I did some fingerpainting with the food coloring since I forgot to set aside some frosting. Whoops. Lesson learned.

Today, keeping the kids as busy as I can. I'm making some cheap wall art today. Probably will be done in a day or two. The tutorial is here  (click for link) and here is a picture of me doing a layout with a poster size frame. Ivy's silhouette looks funny, since she had a low ponytail and I was being nit-picky about Collin's looked larger than her head size. So I cut off the ponytail and taped it on higher. Then I photocopied it 104% a couple times to get it the right size.

Here's the original picture I had for Ivy.

More pics and video of the swim class & birthday up in a couple days.

Collin's Baseball

Collin & the two boys on the left are from his classes at school

Collin just started up baseball on Saturday, the 3rd. I think he likes it so far. There are 3 other kids on his team from school. It was a rather long morning. We had to get to the baseball field by 8:15 for pictures at 8:30. Back up to 7:30. The alarm goes off & all of a sudden I remember he needs a glove. I've known about it for 2 weeks, but obviously wasn't high on my to-do list. Get Collin fed & rush over to Target as soon as they open and rush across town, getting there 5-10 minutes after we were told to be there. Only to find out at the field, we got the wrong handed glove at Target. Apparently if you're right handed you need a glove to go on the left hand.

Pictures didn't end up happening till 9 am--the time the game was supposed to start. Never mind the fact the we had meltdown city since the basketball court we were taking pictures by happened to be right next to other playground equipment. I had, in hindsight, made a mistake asking him to wait till after baseball was over (a little after 10) to play. Luckily, I had our handy dandy iPod(charged! thank goodness), and a new free app called "Where's my Water?" kept him occupied till the group photo. Individuals were done first & Collin's will be an action shot since he couldn't hold the bat still & hold still at the same time, so the bat was swinging. Luckily, the camera-man worked with it and got a usable shot. Let me say, for the record, thank goodness he was one of the shorter kids & was able to sit down for the group pictures.

I did a LOT of carrying him since we were at the furthest away field from pictures. Seriously, this is why I hardly do a dedicated arm workout. Along the same lines, probably why my lower back gets thrown out a lot.

Collin liked the dugout, though it was extremely difficult to stay sitting on the bench. He did a good job with one of the assistant coaches helping him on the field. So I walked over to the bleachers to sit with a few of the other parents. After about 5 minutes of warm-up while we waited for the other team, he decided he was done. So I helped him play the field & helped him know where to run, since it was his first time playing. He did have issues with the padding in the helmet where he was trying to rip it out. I hope it's not as big of a deal to him next time. They give all 14 players(per team) a chance to hit once, no matter how long it takes, and everyone gets to catch the ball once. We only played 1 time of being on the field and 1 time hitting, and then it was all done since we got a late start. It's nice that it's free. One of the perks of being a special ed team. And that nobody's keeping score. I'm sure we'd break a lot of the traditional rules, but the kids seem to have a mostly good time.