Willow Water-dog

Before I get to some pictures of Willow in action in the pool, I have to first put in writing something I don't want to forget.  I was getting Willow out of the car in the parking lot of Jayden's school, when she starts saying 'Oh no!  Oh no!'.  I'm like 'what?  you have both your shoes?  whats wrong?'  And she says, 'Oh no!  Balls!  Oh no! Balls!  Balls!'  I start looking around for some balls rolling down the parking lot or something.  So I turn back to see what she's looking at, and she's staring right at the window in the car door and pointing saying, 'Oh no!  Balls!  Balls!'  I turn back to her and say, 'Oh baby, those aren't balls, those are rain drops.'  It was sprinkling outside and when I finally got her out of the car, she starts looking up in to the sky with an expression of, 'What in the world keeps pinging me on the head???'   Because in true NW fashion, I don't own an umbrella. :)  I guess I just never realized that some people get to have a first experience with rain.  Growing up in the PNW, I just take for granted that everyone knows what raindrops look and feel like!  :)

Now onto the pool!  During the summer, we put Willow in the parent-tot class at the swim club.  There are 5 sessions during the summer and we signed our kids up for 2 of them.  By the end of our 2nd session, Willow's teacher, Wanda told Royal that she wanted to move Willow up to Level 1.  Um, I'm sorry, but the kids are by themselves with a teacher in Level 1 and usually start that around 2 to 2 1/2 years old.  Willow at the time was 19 months old.  So, even though Wanda kept telling us to move Willow up, we signed both the kids up for the last session of summer swimming and we put Willow in the parent-tot class.  I just didn't think Willow was socially ready to be in Level 1.  You have to be able to follow directions and sit on the side of the pool.  If you put Willow on the side of the pool, she'll stand up and jump in whether there is anybody there to catch her or not!  So, all during that last session, Wanda would follow Willow and Royal out of the pool and say to me, 'You really need to move her up!  I can't teach her anything more in this class!  She's ready!'  So, when it was time to sign up for the fall swimming sessions, I put Willow (only 21 months old) in Level 1, and it just so happens that the fall session we signed up for put Willow in Wanda's Level 1 class.  It made me feel better that the person teaching Willow already knew her tendency to jump in the water without warning.  During Willow's first class, I only saw Willow jump in 3 times when she wasn't suppose to, and I was avoiding the windows in case her seeing me created a problem for her.  Willow cried when I handed her off to Wanda the first time, but now, as soon as she sees our swim bag she starts yelling, 'Sim!  Sim wi Danda!!!' (translated : Swim! Swim with Wanda!).  She has done so good!

Jayden started off the session good, but decided he was tired of swimming and didn't want to do it anymore.  So, against everything that was in me that was telling me to fight and argue with him on this, I just let it go.  Jayden decided he needed a break, so I'll give him a break.  He still has to come to the pool with me because Willow is swimming, so if he changes his mind, we should be able to get him back in no problem.  Plus with Willow in swimming lessons, it has given Jayden and I some alone time.  We've colored together and sung songs together and we were suppose to play Go Fish today, but I forgot the cards, so Jayden took a bunch of pictures of people around the pool with my camera instead.  But that is why I don't have any pictures of Jayden swimming.....

Here's Willow right before she's going in to swim.  She's so excited I can hardly get her to hold still for a picture for me.



Here's Willow waiting her turn on the side of the pool.  She's gotten much better at doing that!





Willow launching herself in....she was suppose to.  :)









Willow practicing her back float...

Jayden's Scooter

Well, Jayden did it!  He earned enough stickers on his behavior chart to finally get the scooter he has been wanting.





Good job kiddo!

Kansas State Fair

We went to the state fair today with our small group.  It was hot, dirty, the food, rides, and games were way overpriced, but we had lots of fun!

I'm so glad that we went with our small group because Jayden was feeling a little nervous about the rides, and Royal and I wouldn't of fit with him on most of them, but his "girlfriend" Lainie was there and she loves bossing Jayden around and he just does whatever she says and Lainie was all about going on the rides WITH Jayden.

Aren't they just the cutest???



First up, riding Dumbo





Then the spaceships...it was nice of Jayden to let Lainie drive...





But when it came to the motorcycles, Lainie jumped in the front seat, but Jayden told her that he wanted to drive.



Gotta take his girl for a ride!  :)



Poor Willow wanted to go on almost every ride, but the poor girl was too short for most of them.  She was able to go on a car ride with Jayden and Lainie though.



Jayden and Lainie then hit up the octopus swing ride.



The swings were the hardest for Willow to watch since she loves swinging, so Royal took all the kids on the super slide!



We then let the kids pick a game to play, although we narrowed it down games we knew they would walk away from with a prize.

They got to pick out 2 ducks or fish out of the "river" and then based on what was on the bottom of the duck, that determined what size of prize they got to choose.





Willow chose a pink kitty as her prize.



Jayden picked a snake and a sword.  And then proceeded to chop up his snake with his sword over and over.  :)



After spending a lot of time in the hot sun going on rides and playing games and eating food, we decided to try to find some shade and walked through a bunch of animal barns and then found the John Deere tent and let the kids "test drive" some.





It was a fun day at the fair and Jayden definitely came hungry, he ate 2 hotdogs, half of a corndog, some french fries, a lemonade, some cotton candy, an ice cream cone, and about a gallon of water.

Kid Quote :: 9

Putting Jayden to bed tonight, we were talking about how we were going to go to the fair in the morning.

Jayden : Dad said there was going to be a lot of junk food at the fair.

Me : Yup, there will be.

Jayden : I'm going to be really hungry when I am there.

Fall Happenings

With Jayden in school for a few hours everyday, and Willow napping during that time, I find myself with a quiet house and no motivation to do anything.  When I first thought of what I would do during this time, I was looking forward to getting a ton of stuff done.  Turns out, I have no self discipline.  I have a couple hours to do anything and I can't seem to get anything done. Hence, hardly any posts.  Guess I work better when I have 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there.  I've thought about posting something, but just didn't get it done.  :)

Royal and I have started our annual fall Spite and Mallace Tourny.



I'm not sure what it is about this time of year that makes Royal and I want to play cards, but September rolls around and our huge stack of cards makes it way out of the closet.  Usually I dominate at this game, but this year I'm not doing so hot.  I'm thinking maybe if I make some sweet pumpkin dip and eat it while I play that might help....or at least help losing not taste so bad.  ;)

A friend of mine is letting me borrow her dehydrator, so Jayden and I harvested a bunch of basil out of the garden this morning and started picking the leaves off to start drying them, all the while we were listening to some fall music.



Turns out the music struck a dancing bone in Jayden's little body, so he turned the music up really loud and him and Willow busted a move for a good 20 minutes. :)

Jayden @ School

Jayden's teacher tries to take pictures of her class doing different things, so we can see pictures of them working on art projects or playing at different work stations. Here are a few from the first couple of weeks.

The theme for September is Clifford the dog, this was taken on his first day of school.

In art class, they were suppose to make a person that looked like them.

Here is Jayden with his new "bestest" friend, Aiden. Aiden just happens to be the son of Royal's director, we thought it was funny that that was who Jayden made friends with. :) And Jayden just discovered that Jayden and Aiden rhyme, another reason he thought they made good friends.






Looks like he's having fun to me!

Kid Quote :: 8

Yesterday we started a new behavior chart for Jayden.  They have never really worked for Jayden in the past, he'd rather just keep doing what he is doing and not earn a sticker or toy, but then again he has never really wanted things before.  And since being in Washington with his cousins he really, really, really wants a Wii (so not gonna happen if Royal has anything to do about it), and a razor scooter.  So, after trying so many other things, and much frustration and doubts about my parenting ability, I decided to try this one more time.  If this doesn't help, well, then I'm just not sure what I'm gonna do...



We put 2 categories on the chart that he doesn't have trouble with (helping around the house and good behavior at school) just to help him get excited about earning stickers since he'll get stickers for those without even having to try.  He's always been really good about picking up, helping with the dishes, helping in the yard, etc.. and he's been loving school.

We went over the chart last night with him and how he could earn stickers in each category and how when he got enough stickers in each category, we would go together and buy him the scooter he wants.   When we got to the take turns and sharing section, he clicked his tongue and shook his head and said, "I'm just not sure that one's gonna work out"

Then when I was putting him to bed and we were saying our prayers, Jayden prayed this : "Dear God, Please help Willow not play with my toys long.  Amen"