Little Swimmer

Enjoying his new float in the lake

Following Wes into the lake

Watching Wes skip rocks

Trying out his new swimming move: kicking

After watching Wes he gave it a try

So proud of his throw

Tongue is out, this means it's serious

Laughing and kicking

As you can tell he was as cozy as could be right by himself

We had to keep calling him back to us, no fear at all

splashing

telling Daddy about his plan

He loved checking out his feet

Dry and happy after the swim...and some candy

Kissing his boo-boo

We took Jay to a state park on Lake Murray last Saturday and he loved it. We have been taking swimming lessons these past two weeks so Jay couldn't wait to show Wes his knew skills. We went swimming with some friends last week and, after seeing how Jay LOVED their tube floats, we picked him up one to take with us. Of course the water was shallow enough for him to touch but he thought he was swimming all by himself. The down side: he kept drinking the water, despite our drastic efforts, and now has a nasty GI bug. Yuck! 

So here's what we've been up to. 

1) Swimming lessons: It was for two weeks, 3 days a week, for 30 minutes. I thought at first that there was no way he would learn anything in that short amount of time but realized after day one that I was wrong. In fact, after 30minutes of lessons he is ready to move on so I don't think he would go for anything longer.  For his age the focus was just on "survival skills" such as holding his breath, kicking in the water, reaching for the side of the pool, and getting comfortable with going under water. The first day he had no idea he was going under and, as I dunked him under with his eyes and mouth wide open, was not happy with the first lesson. By the next day he knew what was coming and would yell, "No! No! No! No!" as I dunked him under....but at the last minute did close his eyes and hold his breath. By the next day he was ready and laughing with each move. So, he now knows that he has to kick if he wants to swim or come to the surface, he can hold his breath without panicking, he knows how to turn around in the pool and reach for the side if he ever falls in, and can swim under water for a few feet. Of course, I will be reinforcing these the more we swim and hopefully he will become more comfortable in the water. I was worried, after our lake swim, that my plan had backfired and he was now not scared of the water at all. But we will keep working with him.

2) Learning more letters and numbers:  He has some puzzles with the alphabet and numbers on them. He absolutely loves playing with them. We will go over every letter or number and each time I notice he has learned another one. Also, Mrs. Lynn said that being able to put puzzles together is an advanced math skill so hopefully he will be good with numbers....like his mama....and papa rich, of course. :) 

3) Drawing: He gets so excited when I bring out the crayons/markers. He likes to get me to draw something and will copy it. Even though his drawings never look remotely like what he says they are he is still very confident in his masterpiece. And, always, the first thing he wants me to draw is one of two things, a firetruck or a helicopter.

4) Performing: We gave him a toy guitar for Christmas and he is still in love with it. At least 5 times a day he will think about it, run over to pick it up, and say, "sing! jay sing and guitar!". he will dance and play his little heart out until he is to tired to keep going. It is so funny to watch. Every few days he comes over to me, grabs my hand, and says, "dance with jay mommy" and we have a little dance right there. It melts my heart. :)

5) Prayers: We have been working on Jay with the blessing and nighttime prayers for a little while now. He loves it. There are many times that I forget to say the blessing and he holds out his hands and says, "hold hand!" which is his way of reminding me. The newest prayers are at night. After I rock him for a few minutes I'll say, "ready to say prayers?" and he excitedly puts his hands together and repeats, "Dear God, Thank You for today. I love you. Amen." It is the most adorable thing ever!  Maybe I can get Wes to tape us doing it one night.

6) Manners: This is more of my agenda than Jays but it has become a necessary activity. Since he realized what the word "mine" meant he has been using it for everything, everywhere, to anyone. "my truck!, my juice!, my shirt!, my glasses!"  The first think he does when someone comes over is to tell them what all is his and follows it with "no katie/daddy/truman have it!" That is followed by a discussion about sharing, which falls on deaf ears 90% of the time. The best one he started saying a few days ago after Wes spanked him. He stood up, shook his finger at Wes, and said (with obvious assumed authority), "no daddy!  that's my hiney!  my hiney! No daddy!"  We just looked at each other speechless.

7) Making his own decisions: What to wear to bed, what to put on in the mornings, what toothbrush he will use, what bowl and spoons he needs, what cereal he will eat, etc. He is always SURE that his decision is final and never doubts himself. Most of the decisions I encourage him to make (builds confidence...blah blah blah). Except the other day we went to Publix wearing a collared shirt, gray sweatpants, his church belt, cowboy boots, and a kermit the frog hat......I had to draw the line after that. 

8) Imaginative Play: Forgive the textbook term, it's the only way I can think to say it. After he has been quiet for a few minutes I will go find him with all of his trucks in a circle "talking" to each other. He is usually the main character (surprise surprise) in the story and will tell the trucks where to go and what to do. If they fall off the couch he says, "truck fell down!  Oh truck!  boo-boo! jay kiss it." After the kiss he pats the truck and says, "all better!" 

I have a quick story about Jay and the baby: A few days after he saw the ultrasound and we told him that there is a baby in mommy's tummy we were laying on the couch. My stomach growled and he jumped up and said, "Mommy pooted!" I said, "no jay, mommy's stomach growled." He looked at my stomach, took a few seconds to think about it, and then said, with that ever-present confidence, "Baby pooted."  haha! I just went along.