Making a splash

This week, Dad gave Mom one of her birthday presents early. The present is I get to take swim classes! Tuesday was my first day. Our regular teacher was out sick, so a fun guy taught us how to jump in the water from the edge of the pool, blast off the side once we're in the pool, float on our fronts and backs, swim after floating toys, and - my favorite part - how to blow bubbles. We also sang the Hokey Pokey, Wheels on the Bus and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Thursday we went again and met our regular teacher, Meg. She taught us even more things, like how to float around while hanging on to a noodle instead of our moms.

I am the youngest kid in the class by about six months, so most of the stuff is over my head (although to be fair, I didn't take a nap Thursday so I was kind of groggy because of that). At least this will teach Mom and Dad what to teach me when we go to the pool this summer. It'll be hard to take classes then because they'll have their hands full with my new sister, so we're glad we're taking them now, even if it isn't Mom's birthday yet.

I am still enjoying school, which is also on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tuesday I cried when Mom left but after that I had a great time playing in shaving cream and spending some time on the playground outside. When we went into the building Thursday, I really clung to Mom, so she thought I was going to freak out when she left. But I surprised her - once we got into the room, I saw a toy I liked and took off, never even looking back at her when she said goodbye. She is really proud of how well I'm doing. Today we found out some bad news though. My class only lasts until May. We don't know what we'll do after that, but are keeping our fingers crossed that since our class is so new and they're kind of feeling it out, it'll become so popular they will decide to keep it through the summer after all.

Since I don't have any classes on Monday, Wednesday or Fridays, Mom has been trying to think of other fun things to do with our time on those days. Wednesday we went to the park. Since Mom is so big, slow and sore, she can't keep up with me on the playscape, so we took a ball with us that I could chase around instead. I had to hold the ball while I rode over in the wagon. I threw it out once in the beginning, but after that Mom reminded me to keep it in the wagon, and I did a great job. Mom thought the park was big enough that I wouldn't realize it's the same place with the playscape, but she underestimates my genius. After about 15 minutes of playing with the ball, I zeroed in on the big kid playscape. So before she drug me away, Mom went down the big slide with me a couple of times, which really made me laugh. I was sad to leave but excited to learn that we had another destination before we went home - our farmer Miguel, who I was happy to see (especially since we got some sweet potatoes from him - yum!).

Today we went to the Jewish Community Center again, but not to my class this time. Instead, we went to the Parenting Center, where we've been going the past few weeks. They have a big room with lots of toys and tumbling mats, and special guests - like Rabbi Baker, who visited today - come and sing songs and do mini-Shabbat services. My favorite part of that is eating challah. I also get to run around the open space, crawl around on the mats, see lots of friends, some of whom are in my class, and play with all their toys. It's fun and wears me out. Today my friend's mom even commented on how independent I am, which made Mom proud. She thinks I'm a cool little guy.

To see pictures of our swim classes and my day at the park with my ball, click here.