Swimming Progress!!

Titus swam on his very own, without flotation devices of any sort yesterday, August 19, 2011!!!!!  He has come so far this summer with his comfort level in the water and his swimming abilities.  I am so glad that I pushed him when he didn't want to get in the lake.  We did not do any formal swimming lessons this summer, just lots of time in the lake at Bia's and a little bit of time at Pike Lake.  Titus will also run from the seawall, all the way down the pier and jump in without any flotation devices (the lake is low and he can just touch at the end of the pier right now).

Formal swimming resumes Sept 12th at the Y for both kids. 

Isabele is continuing to learn with her swimming also.  She's very comfortable paddling around with 3 bricks on her bubble (down from 4).  She willingly puts her face all the way in and will float on her back with help.  She's working on jumping in, but still needs at least 2 fingers to help.  She's just starting to be able to jump on dry ground and get both feet off the ground.

And Evening of Crying Kids

This happened 2 weeks ago, and I'm just now getting around to putting it in the blog...

Just came downstairs to bed. I had heard Isabele start crying while taking out my contacts and brushing my teeth. By the time I got downstairs she was sobbing, in her bed, "mommy mommy mommy".  She had my nightgown. She must have been really scared after going in my room to get me and only finding my empty nightgown on the bed. Poor kid.
Brian was out of town for the night, so I just put her in bed with me since she was so upset.

Swimming

It's been hot this last week.  "Heat Wave" in the papers.  So, we have been swimming every afternoon for over a week.  Once at Pike Lake and the rest of the time at my mothers. 
On Thursday, swimming finally clicked with my kids!!  They are now pretty much fearless of jumping off the pier and putting their faces in the water.
Titus will run and jump off the end of the pier without being caught, just retrieved!  He jumps in, and then comes doggie paddling back to the top.  No tears, no fussing about water in his face.
Isabele runs and then needs hands to jump (she can't jump and get both feet off the ground yet).
Isabele will swim about a foot underwater in the shallow areas.  Titus does a great job of putting his marshmallow stick behind his head and floating on his back.  He also does a super job with front kicking with his face all the way in the water and kicking his feet and blowing bubbles! 
I think Isabele's favorite thing, after jumping off the pier, is to float around with the marshmallow stick under her armpits.
It is amazing how comfortable they have gotten in the water in this past week.  Having the lake warmer than bathwater this week has helped a lot.

Isabele's Take on the Crucifixion

Isabele rode to church with me today.  Titus went with Brian.  So, Isabele had no competition for the ride.  She had her "Bible" (Jesus for Children) with her.    Here's what I heard from the back seat:

Peter James and John.
Jesus didn't want to be alive anymore.  He wanted to go to Heaven and Hell.  So he died and went to Heaven...He didn't want to be there.  He wanted to go to Hell...
(At least I know she pays attention.  And I know she will get the details sorted out as she gets a little older.)
I love the voice she uses when she is "reading" the Bible.  She acts very serious and really works on explaining what's going on in the pictures.  Her favorite story is Jesus Loves the Little Children.

Description of a Fruit

Keep in mind, this is Titus' description at age 4 1/2 to Isabele (both are oblivious to my listening in).

It's kind of like an apple and a pear.  And the inside is like lemonade.

You can have a bite, but don't eat it all. 
The sticker is kind of yucky, so don't eat that.


And the answer is.....(I'd put it upside down and backwards, but not sure exactly how that would work on the computer)...PLUM

Immunizations

I am not compliant with the recommended immunization schedule.  Gee, go figure.  I do think that the vast majority of the immunizations required are very important, I just don't like the time frame.  Indiana State Law is changing July 1st and we will have to get our immunizations at the physician's office (what's that?) in the future.  Not such a terrible thing, I guess, since our insurance will pay for them, but we will no longer get to get them from Debbie, our "personal" community health nurse. 
So, off we went this morning for our last immunizations from Debbie.  DTaP, IPV and the second MMR for Titus - combined into 2 shots.  He was not at all happy about the prospect of having to go, but did pretty well for a very scared 4 year old.  All he did was cry. 
Isabele got a DTaP, Hib, IPV combo and her first MMR.  She cried, but didn't know what to be afraid of.

Titus was fine - a couple doses of Tylenol and that was the end of that.

Isabele wasn't quite so fine.  Her leg hurt.  I think probably quite a bit.  In order to distract her after she woke up, we went over to my mother's.  Isabele hadn't walked in the 45 minutes she'd been up from her nap - refused to walk.  When she finally decided that playing in the lake would be better than just watching Titus play in the lake, her gait was classic.  Pretty much, she was limping so much that she looked like a Polio victim (great that one of the vaccines given was for polio). 
Her limp continued off and on throughout the rest of the day. 
I'm sure that tomorrow will be a better day.

A very, very tired little girl

 I guess the activities of the day were too much for this little girl.  She went from awake to sound asleep in about 10 seconds.

We had just gotten back from the grocery.  She fell asleep before she could get a spoon for her yogurt.