Samantha: 49 Months, Week 3
Aedan: 14 Months, Week 1 (Week 62)
Our schedule was a little more free this week now that we were back home with no plans to travel for a couple weeks. The kids continued to have swim lessons every morning from 11:00-11:30, and Ben planned to work on campus most of the days since he took the whole last week off. I scheduled a couple appointments in the morning, one for Roscoe to get his yearly check-up and shots. Ben stayed home with the kids on Tuesday so that I could take Roscoe. I made it back from the vet just in time to take the kids to swim lessons. However, there was a chance of rain that morning, just like most mornings lately, so after about ten minutes in the water we got rained on and after the rain passed we heard a clap of thunder. The lifeguard blew his whistle for everyone to exit the pool, and then they have to wait for at least half an hour from the last clap of thunder before anyone can get back in the pool, essentially ending our swim lesson for the day. I found it kind of ironic that I tried so hard to get done at the vet and get back home so that we could make it to swim lessons on time and then we only got a few minutes in the pool. Oh well, we had fun anyways!
Wednesday morning I had a dentist appointment scheduled. I hadn't been to the dentist in over two years, but now that I have insurance through Ben at Miami, we get two free check-ups and cleanings a year, so I definitely wanted to take advantage of those benefits. I always get nervous going to the dentist because I'm afraid that I'll have fillings or other work that will need to be done. However, they said my teeth were in good shape, and I had no cavities at all! Ben planned on taking the kids to their swim lessons that morning since I would not make it in time. So after my dentist appointment I went grocery shopping by myself before going home. It's so strange going shopping on my own because I usually have at least Aedan with me. It was a peaceful trip and much quicker than usual. Most times I have to double back to aisles that I have already been in because I forget something while being distracted by taking care of Aedan or picking up something he's dropped on the floor. This time that didn't happen. I got the shopping done and made it back in time to help Ben with lunch. He decided to work from home that day since half the day was gone already. It was nice to have him around that afternoon, even if we both were working on our own things.
On Thursday night, leading into the weekend of celebrating the 4th of July, Oxford had a parade Uptown. That morning before swim lessons, Samantha, Aedan, and I went to the playground near the TRI building before swim lessons because Aedan refused to nap so I figured we might as well go do something fun. While we were at the playground, I double checked to see about what time the parade started. The lady in the office at the TRI brought me a flyer of information about it, and I discovered that the kids could participate in a bike parade. I figured Samantha would really enjoy that, so we added that to our plans for the evening.
Both kids took good naps, so we decided to eat out at a Mexican restaurant Uptown before heading over to the area where the parade would be. The kids played around for awhile on the statues in the park, and I got this picture of the two of them together. They aren't looking at me, and they aren't smiling, but at least they are together. :)
After a little while, we figured out where the kids were supposed to meet for the bike parade, so I took Samantha over there while Daddy played with Aedan and hung out in our parade spot. Apparently Aedan was really excited about this piece of wood that he found. (You can see it in the picture in his left hand.) He also thought it was super exciting to be sitting in Samantha's "Daniel Tiger" chair. Man, he looks like such a big kid in this picture, just so adorable.
Samantha waited patiently for the parade to start and couldn't wait for the fire trucks and ambulances to get going so that the bikes could follow. There was actually a contest to see whose bike could be decorated the best. Now, we are not the most patriotic family, so we did not decorate Samantha's bike in red, white, and blue, but her fried Matteo gave her some sparkly stars to twist around her handle bars. Samantha was just excited to be able to ride her bike down bumpy street, as she calls it.
Being a small town, the parade didn't last for too long. Samantha rode her bike down the main part of the bumpy road and then looped back around. We met back up with Daddy and Aedan, and she was able to watch the end of the parade and gather up some candy that parade members were throwing out.
Friday morning, July 3rd, was the last day of swim lessons for the kids, so Daddy joined us. I took Aedan in the pool for his lesson, and Daddy kept his eye on Samantha. The day before when I had the kids by myself, there were a couple times that Samantha dipped under the water a little too much for my comfort. The lifeguard had her hands full with a lot of kids to watch, and even in the shallower area where Samantha can mostly touch, sometimes she drifts off toward the dividing rope where it gets a little deeper, to the point where bouncing up and down doesn't quite get her far enough out of the water and she struggles to get back to the side. I saw Samantha doing this a couple times where the lifeguard had to reach out and grab her as she saw her struggling and pull her back over to the side. Also, on this same day, they were in the deep water practicing kicking with the kick board. The lifeguard had the kids push off the wall toward the kick board, she would then grab them, help them get secure on the kick board and then release them into the water to swim around and practice kicking while holding on to the kick board. However, the kids did not have life jackets on. I didn't think anything of it until Samantha was off, kicking around with her kick board, and it slipped out of her hands and she started flailing and sinking down into the water. Luckily, the lifeguard was just a couple feet away helping another girl get on her kick board, so she was able to reach out quickly, grab Samantha, and get her back with her kick board and headed back toward the wall. It scared me to see this happen, and I am very glad that the lifeguard was close enough that she could catch Samantha so quickly. So, because of that, I told Ben to keep an eye on Samantha for me on the last day of lessons.
Despite that scary episode, Samantha still loved her lessons. One of her favorite parts was jumping off the diving board. They wore life jackets for this, so she knew she was perfectly safe. Many of the other little girls were too afraid to jump off, so we were really proud of Samantha for being so brave. She walked quickly when in the area with the railings. Then, as soon as she got toward the end with no railings she slowed down and her hands immediately went up into her mouth. She does this a lot when she is nervous or shy about something. However, she never chickened out, and she loves getting her head under the water. Watch this little video, it's great. :)
In Oxford they celebrated the 4th of July with fireworks and a festival on the 3rd of July. It rained most of the afternoon and into the evening, so we weren't sure if it would be rained out or not. The weather was a bit cooler, so we wore pants in case it got chilly, brought umbrellas and coats, and we were prepared. The festival started at 6:30, and we got there sometime before 7:00 and it was not very busy. We didn't know how long Aedan would last for that night as he usually gets very sleepy between 7:00 and 7:30. Ben and I drove separately in case I would need to leave to bring Aedan home and put him to bed.
They had lots of fun activities for kids. There was a small train that took you on a ride around the park, inflatable mazes and bounce houses, pony rides, face painting, music to dance to, and of course, the playgrounds. We had a great time experiencing all those things, the weather cooperated, and the rain held off. Everything was pretty wet and the ground was totally soggy, but we had a good time.
Around 8:30 or so, Aedan started to get pretty tired. He was getting really dirty from the muddy ground and started to put everything in his mouth, so I decided to change him into dry clothes and put him in the Ergo to see if he would be tired enough to fall asleep. This was not the case, however. There was just too much commotion, noise, and fun happening all around him for him to be able to fall asleep. It gave him a nice little break, but then I eventually just took him out and let him play on the playground. It was so strange to see him toddling around the playground in the semi-dark at 9:15. However, we figured as long as he was in a good mood and wasn't completely melting down, that we would stay all together as a family.
The fireworks were scheduled for 10:00, so around 9:45 or so we made our way to our seats and had a snack while we waited for the show to start. Our experience in Oxford was so different than any other place we've lived or any other place we've seen fireworks. Many times you have to get to the location many hours in advance to stake your spot with your lawn chairs. However, here you could just show and sit down anywhere you wanted right before the show started. It was pretty low key, and that was nice. Here we are, waiting for the fireworks. Both kids were tired, as they are never out past 10:00 at night, but they were doing great, and one night a year is perfectly acceptable to break bed time schedules.
We sat with some other families from OBF, so that was nice to have friends to talk to. Samantha even got to see her friend, Charlotte, from music class. One family brought sparklers and were nice enough to share one with Samantha. She wasn't so sure about the fire at the end of a stick, and just held it straight out in front of her, not moving a muscle, until it burned out.
We had a good time watching the fireworks. Samantha sat on Daddy's lap while Aedan sat on my lap. They shot the fireworks off far enough from where we were sitting that they weren't loud at all. In fact, they were far enough away that sometimes Aedan didn't even notice them. Samantha enjoyed cuddling with Daddy and talking about which ones were her favorite. The show lasted about 20 minutes, we said good-bye to our friends, and went back to our cars to get home. Normally traffic is bad getting out of events like this because everyone is trying to get the same direction at the same time. However, Oxford is a small enough town that it was no problem getting out and getting back home.
Even though we were out late the night before, the kids didn't sleep in much longer than they usually do, so we had a pretty relaxed, low-key day on Saturday with no 4th of July festivities. The only thing we did was go get frozen yogurt and play Uptown in the fountains that evening after dinner. It was nice to have a restful day. Here I am with the kiddos after playing in the fountains on the 4th of July.
On Sunday Ben and I volunteered in the elementary room during church. I got volunteered to lead the small group activities with the kindergartners and first graders, and it was such a flashback to my teaching days. It's already felt like so long since I've been in charge of a classroom of kids. It will definitely be strange when I go back to teaching some day, but I am looking forward to getting back into that profession once our kids are not small anymore and all are in school.
For many weeks now Samantha has been asking to go to Jump and Jack's. Plus, she decided it would be a good place to go to celebrate Daddy finishing his dissertation. Ben suggested that if the kids took good naps, we could go that Sunday evening. We ate dinner at Noodles and Company before heading over to play. Samantha loves this place, and Aedan hadn't been there since he started walking so we figured he would enjoy it even more now. Aedan played in the baby/toddler area for awhile before we all joined Samantha in the big playground. We had to help him climb up some of the big platforms, but there were plenty of things he could climb around himself as well as big balls to roll. They both had a great time climbing, sliding, and playing. We stayed for over an hour and a half, only leaving because it was getting close to bedtime, and we needed to get the kids to bed.
Monday was the start to another week of Samantha at camp. This camp had a sports theme where they would practice throwing, catching, kicking, and other sports related skills. We thought this would be good practice for Samantha, especially before soccer starts in the fall. Plus, she's not always the most coordinated when it comes to physical activities. She was so excited to be back for another week of camp and knew several of the kids in her class already. She looked so cute leaving for camp that morning with her ponytail and little backpack. Both Ben and I commented that it was hard not to see a soon to be kindergartner. She's growing up so fast, getting so tall; it's hard to believe sometimes.
Daddy took Samantha to camp before heading to campus for the day, and Aedan was SO upset when they went out the door without them. He cried and looked out the window longingly. He's not used to his sissy being gone every morning. He likes it when our whole family is together.
There is an event called Preschool Playground on Monday mornings at a local Montessori school, and we haven't had a chance to go yet this summer due to rainy weather, being out of town, or Samantha being at camp. I was just going to keep Aedan up and take him to that play time. However, he was just too crabby so I decided to lay him down for a short nap before heading over to play. Aedan has been in an in between phase with his morning naps. In some ways I think he still needs it because he wakes up around 7:00-7:30 every day, making it difficult to keep him awake and happy until 1:00-1:30 when I am able to lay him down for his afternoon nap. He usually acts tired and cranky in the morning, so we continue on with his naps. However, he hasn't been falling asleep quite as easily as he used to. He often will not fall asleep with me when I rock him, and then sometimes he will talk and wiggle around in his crib for awhile before finally falling asleep, which sometimes makes me wonder if he is ready to give up that morning nap. I figure I will try to give him one whenever I can, but if we are out and busy and he doesn't get one, then that's okay too.
Anyways, it was so strange being with just Aedan at the play time. It's not very often, if ever, that he and I have gone to do something fun together without Samantha along as well. There were lots of other kids to interact with, lots of balls to play with (Aedan's favorite toy), play structures to climb, and even blocks. Aedan had a wonderful time toddling around, discovering new things, and having the freedom to play wherever and with whatever he wanted. It will be fun in the fall when Samantha goes to preschool three days a week, and I get more one on one time with Aedan to do fun things and spend time bonding with him.
Samantha's first day at camp was great. They learned how to play tennis, bouncing the balls with their rackets and even trying to hit them when one of the teachers threw them at them. Samantha said her ball kept rolling away from her and she had to keep going to get it. They got to go swimming, and she was very excited to go back the next day. I'm so glad they offer these special little programs for kids during the summer.
(Blog about June 30-July 6, 2015)
No comments:
Post a Comment