Swimming Video, as Promised

I am so excited to share these swimming videos with you! I also want to note that I go back to work in another 2 weeks after a not-so-restful summer break. I'd expect the posting to slow down significantly at that point in time!

William actually swimming

More swimming. You'll note in this one, he doesn't actually make it to the wall and starts to sink. Before, this would have been an all out melt down requiring getting out of the pool and large bribes to return to the water on a different day. But now? No. big. deal. He is actually SMILING.

And a few pictures, too.

Look! Head! Under! Water! by his own power (evidenced by no adult is anywhere near him)
One of his favorite games is jumping off my knees and swimming to the wall. I've been able to gradually move away from wall AND he has needed to propel himself less because he is able to SWIM (short distances).Floating on his back would be easier if he had any body fat. Ribs in this picture were not enhanced with any photo editing software.William is especially excited he can actually touch (I'm using this term loosely) in the Big Kid Pool.

William slides. In which he climbs up to the top and slides because he wants to. Because "it is fun"

William jumps in the water, allows his head to go under. All without assistance. Amazing.

Conversations

Despite his initial fears, William and Amelia have spent a great deal of time playing out the story from Cars 2. I happened to overhear this particular conversation:


William (as Lightening McQueen): Hi Mater!
Amelia (as Mater): Hi Lightening!
William: Hey Mater! Who is your favorite princess?
Amelia: ??????
William: You know, Ariel or Snow White or Pocahontas?
Amelia: Cinderella?

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William came running out of his room a few nights ago. It was about his third time out of bed, which means it was time for a consequence. I started to stand up when he said: "No, Mama! I just need to tell you something! Thank you for the blanket you made for my bed! I just love it so much. It is snugly and warm like a giant hug! Thank you Mama!" and then he hightailed it right bad to bed while I tried to pull my chin off the floor.

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Last week sometime I attempted to entertain William with music videos on my iphone as Amelia napped. In particular, I was looking for a camp song (Light the Fire) to use at a church event coming up. Two birds, one stone. Find a link to the song, keep William quiet so Amelia naps. I found a few renditions that were passable. William was tickled by the version that included a woman playing her guitar. He just couldn't get over how she had a "mama sized ukelele". I tried to correct him and explain about a guitar with no avail. It was a ukelele. A mama sized one. End of story.

William v4.5

Today William is 4 and a half. Hard to believe, isn't it? I have a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea he'll be 5 on his next birthday. 5 sounds so...grown up!

Anyway, I just wanted to write down a few things that are happening with William. Especially since his 4 year old birthday post looks more and more like it isn't going to happen.

William is a delight. He makes us laugh out loud with the questions he asks and the silly things he does. The kids are currently playing REALLY well together. So well that I was able to sleep on our couch for an entire hour the other day while feeling under the weather and my two kids just played together. They play most of the morning and afternoon away happily with very few occasions where I am needed to step in a referee. I know this will not last. I understand this will not last. I know this is probably just a phase, but I am still delighted every time I head Amelia shout "Let's PLAY!" and they both run to get their cars or trains (my poor girl, she loves trains, trucks, and baby dolls).

We bought a pool pass this summer to help manage the heat wave of our summer. This weekend, we had a "short break from the heat" in which the temperature only got up to 94 degrees. It sure didn't feel like a break from the heat! Although with close to ten days of upper 90's/100's, high humidity, and not a drop of rain in sight I should have probably taken better advantage. We're scheduled for more hot this week.

Showing off his "sad" face. I'm not buying it.

All that to say: We have more than got our money's worth out of that pool pass in keeping cool. There's been another side effect. William is enjoying himself in the water AND actually learning to swim on his own terms. It is hard to get accurate video with two kids needing full attention, but we're going to try. Because William has come SO FAR in the last month. It is almost unbelievable if I wouldn't have seen it with my own eyes.

Those blue eyes...

At the beginning of the summer swimming lessons William:

-overall was afraid of the water. Wouldn't get in without prodding. Complained about having swimming lessons, didn't want to go
- wouldn't put his face in the water
-wouldn't jump in the shallow area where he knew he could touch without holding on to someone's hands
-couldn't relax enough to float on his back
- didn't like to be splashed
- wouldn't let go of the adult in the pool
- was afraid of the water slide, refused to try it
-wouldn't jump in and allow his head to go underwater in the deeper area

These are all things he is now willing to do and more. He has gotten so BRAVE and I'm so PROUD!

William is also working hard at learning to read on his own time. He does NOT want me to interfere with this process and refuses to read to me or work on reading. However, he has let it slip on a number of occasions that he knows what the words on signs or in books say. The stinker! I'm just dying to get into a book with him and see where his skills are (teacher mode apparently doesn't ever turn off), but HE WON'T LET ME. It is driving me crazy to be so patient!


We've had our first real experience with not-so-truthful reporting and are dealing with it as it comes. Luckily, four year olds are terrible liars.


I also wanted to throw out there that William is a great help around the house. He loves to help and is actually helpful. He vacuums the laundry and bathrooms with our small Dustbuster, he puts away silverware, shakes rugs, folds wash clothes, takes clothes to the laundry, picks up his toys, fetches the mail, waters plants and does it all with a smile!

Every 4.5 year old should be able to jump on the bed. Also, I'm stumped about what to put over my bed. Suggestions?Tried to get a few of the two...without luck

At least they make me laugh....Hahahahaaaa! This one I'm saving until she is 15. I'm going to need whatever ammunition I can get my hands on at that point. Just look at that face.

Home Again, Home Again

After 10 days away, it is good to come home. Our kids were so tired, they slept a significant portion of the 7.5 hour drive home. As did I. Only poor John stayed awake the whole time.

This is the final picture from the trip. Amelia fell asleep with her lunch in hand and would NOT wake up. Even with all of us laughing at her. She slept hard for about 5-6 minutes and then resumed eating her sandwich.

Happy 4th of July!

We celebrated the 4th of July in Rochester this year!


Another project: My mom helped me make Amelia a 4th of July dress. We started the night before, of course. I decided to go with a biggest size a)in case I didn't get it done and she had to wear it next year and b) so I don't have to make another next year. It turned out a lot bigger than I was expecting.

Amelia has the red, William the blue

I hope you like to read. If our kids of visiting, you'll be reading to them.

Here are the kids "helping" Daddy and Grandpa by painting the playhouse (with water) while the grown ups painted the deck.

I decided that Amelia was old enough (and so far off her regular schedule) to go to the fireworks display starting at 10pm. Note: regular bedtime is 7:45pm. Good thing we brought a book to read.

William wearing his 4th of July shirt I made for him last yearSnacks helped pass the time before the show

Amelia and Grandma. Grandma kept saying "OOOOoooo!" about the fireworks and Amelia would tell her "NO! Say Aaaaaaaaaa!" Bossy

She cried when we put away the phone. Even while the fireworks were starting. She'd rather watch Thomas on the phone than watch live fireworks. Clearly, she wasn't old enough!

In the end, both kids liked the fireworks, although I was hoping for a little more awe on their end.

Guess what we had scheduled for the next day?

If you guessed driving home, you'd be right!

Back to Rochester

We got up and going early to head back to Rochester the next morning (are we crazy? yes.) It was the Friday before the 4th of July weekend and we were concerned about traffic going through the lakes region of Minnesota. Everyone and their family takes off for the lakes over the long weekend along with their campers, boats, and trailers which adds up to TRAFFIC. I don't like to spend more than one minute longer in the car than necessary, so I was willing to get up early to hopefully beat the rush.

As far as I know, it worked out in our favor. We hit a little traffic in the cities as expected, but had no other trouble along the way. Our little travelers do such a great job! Back in Rochester, we settled in to enjoy some more grandparent time - including a few projects. We love projects (really, we do).

Reading with Grandpa KevinColoring with Grandpa HeidtPlaying Legos at Grandpa Heidt'sWalking to the park with Grandpa Heidt
Getting a great big push from Grandpa
Amelia thought it might be more fun to push GrandpaTurned out to be less work just to ride on his lap
Mama was hot. There was a teeny tiny corner of shade on this Kevin Langlie bench. It was good to remember him.MILESTONE: we took the kids to their first movie, Cars 2. They were SO! EXCITED!William was so into every little thing about the experience. Even the Cars 2 reading material.
Amelia was also impressed, although not as excited.

I thought Amelia might sleep through the movie. She did not. You could tell she was pretty overwhelmed by the noise by looking at her face. She really wanted to sit with someone the whole time. I was expecting the storyline to be along the lines of the first movie and was sadly mistaken. William cried through much of the movie, which made me sad because it was supposed to be something special for him. This time around is more of a James Bond storyline in which the cars are equip with GUNS and BOMBS and other spy tools. In the first movie, the lovable character, Mater was looking for a best friend. In the second movie he was more worried about getting a bomb off himself that the bad guys had planted. It just seemed unnecessarily violent and scary for a movie geared towards kids.

Luckily, there hasn't been any negative side effects other than scaring the pants off William in the theater. Both kids have spent hours playing "Cars II" together - so maybe what I thought was a bad thing ended up bringing them together?

One project: strawberry picking and jam making. Grandma and Mama took the kids berry picking in the morning and made jam in the afternoon sans kids while the guys worked on sanding, washing, repairing, painting and putting back together Grandpa's deck.

Back to Grand Forks

We got some more playtime and reading time on our way back through Grand Forks with the great grandparents! We arrived in time for supper and left again after breakfast, but we squeezed in as many of our favorite things as we could!

Reading with Great Grandpa Tom

Poor Grandpa and Grandma. Amelia decided she LOVED a vintage 1960's Minnie Mouse book. They read it over and over and over and over and over.

...and finally, William has mastered the fireman pole. Magically, on his own. Just before I took this video, I saw him slide down in like an old pro for the first time.

Vacation Round 3.3: Last day in Winnipeg

The kids went to bed late and were up super early again. I am quietly happy that I decided to go with 2 nights in a hotel over 3. I'm not sure we would have survived 3. Day 3 started early and we ate in our room. We hit the pool one last time before packing up and checking out of the hotel. I hit the market across the street (I love weird things: signs, bikes, grocery stores) and we took the kids for what we thought would be a quick stop at the children's museum back at The Forks.

The Forks had this very cool observatory for viewing stars. Park with cool art by day, observatory by night.

I was a little concerned about the "under construction"sign...sometimes that means it isn't a great time to visit the attraction.
Even the front door was not accessible

All my fears were washed away when I saw they had a digger in the lobby FOR KIDS TO PLAY WITH. Suddenly, I was more worried about getting the kids out of there. Ever.The big light up crazy clock inside the door.

There was also a real train engine parked inside for kids to crawl around inside. The headlight on the font is actually a tunnel with a window on the end.
William enjoyed "driving", although there weren't quiet enough buttons/switches to press.William explores inside the engine
Amelia rings the train bell
There was also this beautiful kaleidoscope slide the kids loved
I just loved taking pictures of it
Amelia peeks
Happy face
Teasing mama and not smiling big
JOhn and William spent a LONG time in this area building with a crane
Here they are getting ready to place another block on top of their tower. It was so much fun to watch them work together
Another attempt
Also popular : water table
Both kids were so engrossed by the water area. They would have played here ALL DAY LONG.
The look on his face here sums it all up: total, 100% concentration
William wasn't happy about being pulled away from the water play area for a craft area (he isn't so into the craft stuff, sadly). He put up with it once he realized they had SCISSORS and GLUE and other TOOLS to work with.
There was a SMALL music area for the kids to fight over - we didn't last long there

A tunnel went under the great big engine and led to this:
A huge lasagna play area. The green layer is spinach and if you look carefully there is a layer of meatballs, cheese, noodles and tomatoes stacked up to the roof. This was a climbing/play area with little puzzles to complete on each layer.
William liked peeking through the cheese, but put away his smile when I pulled the camera out.
Daddy and Mimi. The hardest part about this area is Amelia was to small to come climb with us. She cried the entire time I was up there with William. William really wasn't able to climb by himself either, which just confirmed she would not have been able to do it.
In the mirror area - fun self portraits...forgot I was supposed to be chasing kids.It doesn't really look like it, but this is a GIANT cow display. The top is close to the ceiling. Unfortunately, I waited for a long time to get a shot WITHOUT people. Now I'm thinking it could have used a person in the shot to give it some perspective. For reference, the "grass" in front of the cow was about Amelia sized.

Just on the other side was a HUGE milking exhibit - everyone enjoyed this one. So much that we didn't take a single picture!

If you can't tell, we LOVED the children's museum (which is good, because it is the most expensive this we did). I have a feeling if we lived here, we'd be season pass holders/members!

After the children's museum, we were scheduled for some divine lunch in the car. It was such a gorgeous day, neither John or I really wanted to. And it is a good thing we decided to eat down at The Forks (across the street from Children's museum) because they had the ever elusive POUTINE.We don't eat out much when we are at home and we ate out almost daily during our trip. We saw a vast improvement in William's coloring skills during our trip - on this occasion, he even added a self drawn sun in the corner (other portions were colored by an adult in the name of being sociable).

I love signs. Here is Donald Street
Maximum 100 KM/Hour sounds so fast...but it isn't.
I'm not sure we were even out of the parking ramp when Amelia fell asleep. If only she'd sleep at night!
The rest of us pretty quickly followed suit. John took this picture right before waking me up to go through customs.
The busy border crossing. It was June 30th, the next day was Canada day (National Holiday for Canadians) so I guess a lot of them were going to celebrate in the USA.


We loved Winnipeg. People were so friendly and helpful. There were so many kid friendly/family friendly attractions for us to enjoy. We were a little sad to see our mini "vacation" come to an end!