Aedan: 26 Months, Week 5
After returning from our trip to Upland, we got into the week with swim lessons every day from 10-11 at the Norris Center on LSSU's campus. Since we had swim lessons and couldn't do anything else, our mornings were a bit more relaxed, with lots of time for Samantha and Aedan to play together.
Here is a video that Ben recorded of the kids on Tuesday, July 26, wishing Papa a happy birthday.
The swim lessons went really well for the kids. Samantha was in level 1 because she needed more practice with swimming independently and floating on her own. She had about 9 kids in her class and just one teacher, so a lot of the time they had to sit on the wall waiting for their turn. The water was 4 feet deep at its shallowest point, so the kids couldn't touch the bottom yet. The instructor, Logan, a man with a long, full beard, would take one kid out in the water at a time, helping them learn back floats, front floats, kicking and reaching with their arms like they were scooping ice cream, jumping off the side into the water, bobbing up and down, and of course trying to swim back to the wall all on their own. As swim lessons progressed, Samantha's skills definitely improved. She was much more confident floating on her back, and she was able to swim several strokes back to the wall without needing help. The teacher had his hand under her stomach ready to help, but she was doing much better keeping her head up out of the water, kicking, and reaching her arms out. Samantha loves the water and loved going to swim lessons every day. She also really enjoyed talking to the other kids while she sat on the wall waiting for her turn.
I signed Aedan up for parent-tot swim lessons because I figured he would not like just watching Samantha swim in the pool for an hour while we stood there and watched. However, there were no other kids signed up for that class, so it was just Aedan and me with the instructor which made it kind of awkward at times. The instructor, Megan, introduced some different songs and rhymes for us to do with him like "Humpty Dumpty," "Hokey Pokey," "I'm a Little Teapot," and "Motor Boat, Motor Boat." Aedan loves to sing songs, so he was a big fan of singing while splashing in the water. "Humpty Dumpty" helped Aedan learn jumping into the water. (We even let his head go completely under the water a couple of times.) "Hokey Pokey" helped teach him splashing with his arms, kicking with his feet, blowing bubbles, and even being dunked all the way under the water ,which at first would cause him to freak out some at getting water all over his face and in his ears. But as we did it more, he got more used to it and learned how to keep his mouth closed better. "I'm a Little Teapot" was one of his favorites because he got to use a watering can and dump the water out on my head at the end of the song. He let me dump water on his head as well, and he would rub his hands around and say, "Shower." "Motor Boat, Motor Boat" was a song where he would practice kicking slow and then fast. Aedan liked that song because I would quickly twirl him around in circles.
The swim lessons went for an hour, but Aedan had a hard time staying in the water for that long because he would get cold and his lips would start turning blue. It's hard for him because I have to hold him the whole time so he's not as active in the water which is what helps to warm you up while swimming. I tried to get him to stay in as long as possible usually making it about 35-40 minutes before he wanted to get out and get his towel wrapped around him so that he could "cuddle Mommy."
Our tradition after getting out of the pool was to go into the locker room to shower off in the nice warm water. Samantha and Aedan would both stand under the water for a long time if I let them. Aedan, in particular really liked the shower, especially when I took his bathing suit off so we could actually use soap to get clean. Then, we would go the block back to our house from the Norris Center. For the first few days, we walked and pushed Aedan in the stroller, but then after that Samantha suggested that she ride her bike instead, which we thought was a great idea. She much preferred riding her bike, and it got her there much faster, plus it gave her experience riding her bike.
On Tuesday evening after dinner we decided to go to the playground across the street to let the kids play for awhile. Every once in awhile it's nice to get out of our own back yard and play somewhere else. Both kids really like this tall metal slide, especially Aedan. He can go up and down all by himself and really gets going fast.
We are trying really hard to help Samantha with the transition to kindergarten by phasing naps out as much as possible, unless we feel like she really needs one, is feeling sick, or we are planning on being out late for some reason. Tuesday she did not nap, and it showed during our time at the playground. She just lost her ability to think about her actions. She started crying about not being able to do something and then got hurt, not allowing herself to calm down. When we told her it was time to go, she freaked out even more about leaving. It is so difficult dealing with this transitional phase with Samantha. She just always seems to be tired, and on days she doesn't nap, she is done for the day by 6:30, which makes it really difficult for us when we are trying to play with her and interact with her in the evenings. We try to explain to her that sleeping is important, that it helps her think more clearly, that it helps her stay in a better mood, and that it will be really important for her success in kindergarten, but all the talking seems to do no good with her. She just does not let herself sleep in, even if her body needs it, she is up before 7:00 a.m. most mornings to go to the bathroom and probably does not go back to sleep. We try to put her to bed at a decent time so that she can get enough sleep, but only she can make herself sleep and control her body in that way. Hopefully over the coming weeks we can continue to work on her structure and get her into a better rhythm with sleeping.
On Wednesday we had swim lessons again in the morning, and I had Samantha take a nap that afternoon so that we could go to the concert in the park that night. It was the most popular one of the year, the Petoskey Steel Drum Band, and we thought the kids would really enjoy it. So after dinner, we got our chairs together and headed to the park. We got there a little later than we wanted to, but we still had no problem finding a spot to put our chairs before the concert started. We got bags of popcorn for the kids and got ready to watch the concert. We told the kids that the concert would have drums, and Aedan was really excited about that. Here are some videos and pictures of the kids dancing and listening to the concert.
It really was a good show, and the music was pretty loud and more energizing than past concerts, so it held the kids' attention a lot more. We actually ended up staying until the very end of the concert, even though it was already past 8:00. The band members invited people up if you wanted to touch or play a drum, which of course Samantha and Aedan wanted to try. It was interesting to see all the different sizes of drums, as well as how each drum was labeled with the different notes.
The kids stayed in their seats for most of the concert, but Ben did take them out to run around and play for a little while. Samantha always looks forward to climbing the large trees around the park.
Thursday was a big day because Uncle Matthew, Aunt Christy, and Brielle were coming to visit for the weekend. In the couple days prior to them coming, we did a few more things around the house, like the kids helped me clean all the screens from the windows so that we could get all our windows open and make sure the windows in the guest room were able to open as well. That was a little trickier than we expected it to be because the previous owner had installed the blinds in a place where the screen could no longer fit, so Ben and I had to take the blinds down, put the screens in, and then put the blinds back up in a different way. Overall, we were successful, and we were able to find all the screens for the windows that are missing screens. Plus, they looked much better being cleaned off. On Thursday morning Ben lovingly agreed to take the kids to swim lessons so that I could stay home, put laundry away, and clean the house before our guests arrived that afternoon.
The Clemons family got up at 5:00 a.m. to get on the road early and try to beat rush hour traffic out of Chicago. We were all very excited for them to arrive mid-afternoon. Samantha was so excited to see Brielle when she got up from her nap that afternoon. Here they are sitting on the couch watching a show together. Brielle was so cute and reached her arm around Samantha's shoulders. They sat like this on the couch for quite awhile.
The Clemons family got up at 5:00 a.m. to get on the road early and try to beat rush hour traffic out of Chicago. We were all very excited for them to arrive mid-afternoon. Samantha was so excited to see Brielle when she got up from her nap that afternoon. Here they are sitting on the couch watching a show together. Brielle was so cute and reached her arm around Samantha's shoulders. They sat like this on the couch for quite awhile.
Aedan was very excited to see Brielle, or B-elle as he calls her. They had fun playing outside together that evening before dinner. It was fun for Aedan to have a play mate his own age. When we are around Alaina, Aedan is the one left out since Samantha and Alaina are close in age. Well now, Samantha was more left out because she didn't have as much fun playing in the ways that Brielle and Aedan did. In fact, we kept encouraging Samantha to play and interact with everyone, but she preferred to play by herself, really most of the weekend. But that's okay. Here are Brielle and Aedan playing in the sand box together.
After dinner on Thursday night we decided to take our visitors to the see the locks and walk around in the park. They thought the big boat going through the locks was very interesting, and we stayed watching the men work on the boat for quite awhile.
After having our fill of watching the boat from the observation tower, we went down to the park near the fountain and let the kids run around and play for awhile. It was a beautiful night, the kids were in good moods, and it was fun having family up to visit us in our new town.
Before going home for the night and putting all the kids to bed, we decided to stop by a local fudge shop to pick out some fudge to share. It's one of those things that we've wanted to do for a long time but haven't ever done, so we figured it was the perfect time to go while we had visitors in town we could share the fudge with.
One thing we particularly like about visits from Matthew and Christy is that they are always willing to play board games with us at night once the kids are in bed. Brielle slept in Aedan's crib in his room so that Matthew and Christy didn't have to have Brielle sleep in the same room as them, and we just put Aedan in his pack and play in the bathroom in the basement because he sleeps just fine there. We hoped that Brielle would sleep better in her own room and in a crib that is similar to hers as well. It seemed to work as she had no trouble going to sleep or staying asleep at night. Once the kids were asleep, the adults played Ticket to Ride with the special expansion pack they brought along with them. Ben and I rarely play games, so it's nice to have others to do that with, even if it means staying up later than we really should.
Friday morning was more relaxed because Samantha and Aedan still had swim lessons from 10-11, and then Samantha also had the last day of her 5 Day Club, which was a special VBS camp she was going to every day from 12:30-2:00. I figured Matthew and Christy would enjoy a relaxed morning at the house too after the long day they had traveling the day before. During nap time that afternoon Christy and I went out for coffee together, so we could just sit and talk since we don't get to do that very often without kids being around. It was fun to talk and catch up with each other without any distractions from kids that needed us.
Then, that evening after dinner we all went to Sherman Park to let the kids enjoy playing on the beach and swim in the water. Plus, it's just a beautiful place to see the gorgeous sights surrounding us in the U.P. Brielle just kind of took in everything at first, but it didn't take her long before she was walking around and splashing in the water. Here are some great pictures of our evening at the beach together.
After the kids got their fill of the beach and the water, we went up the bank to the playground to let the kids play and shake some of the sand off before getting back in the car. However, it was getting late at this point, and our kids were getting tired, especially Samantha since she didn't nap that afternoon. When it was about time to go, we told the kids they could pick one more thing to do before we left. Samantha chose to climb across this chain fence thing, and Aedan went down the slide one more time. Well, when Samantha saw Aedan going down the slide, she changed her mind and took the long way around to start climbing up to the slide. Ben and I told her no, that she couldn't do anything else because she had already picked climbing as her last thing. Since Samantha was so overtired at this point, she just freaked out and started crying, saying that she had changed her mind and wanted to do something else. We quickly got our kids to the car, telling Matthew, Christy, and Brielle that they could stay as long as they wanted, but we had to get our kids to bed. This is when it is difficult with Samantha not napping because she really should be in bed by 7:30 on days that she doesn't nap, which really means that we can't be going out and doing anything after dinner that would keep her out past her bedtime, or else meltdowns like this are more likely to happen.
On Saturday we decided to go on a day trip to Tahquamenon Falls because we knew with how much Brielle likes water, she would love walking around in the water and rocks around the falls. We packed a lunch to eat there, and we put car seats in Matthew and Christy's car for Samantha and Aedan so that we could all just ride together. The falls are an hour and fifteen minutes away, so not too bad but the kids were getting pretty antsy by the end of our trip and were glad to get out and move. It was 11:30 by the time we got there, so we decided to just eat lunch first before getting the kids dressed in their bathing suits and riding on the boat across to the falls.
The kids had a blast splashing around in the water, building towers, throwing rocks, and just having a wonderful time enjoying nature. This is the perfect place to go with kids. They certainly don't need any fancy things to entertain them, and again we had perfect weather in the mid-70s. I'm so glad that Matthew, Christy, and Brielle weren't here to visit during the hot days we had the previous week. Here are some great pictures from our afternoon at the falls.
We stayed at the falls until the middle of the afternoon and our kids were getting too tired to do much more, so we decided to skip visiting the upper falls, especially since we didn't bring a stroller with us. We hoped that the kids would rest and take naps in the car on the way back home. I sat in the back with Samantha and encouraged her to close her eyes and try to sleep, but she wasn't able to. Aedan fell asleep pretty quickly once he got his pacifier and Aunt Christy ignored him, but Brielle did not sleep at all on the way back, making for a tired girl the rest of the evening.
We spent some time playing outside in the backyard that evening and took a quick walk over to campus to show them the building with the taxidermy animals, as well as a good view of the International Bridge to Canada.
On Saturday evening we got the kids to bed earlier after a long day out, and then Matthew and Christy helped us do a few things around the house like working on some electrical outlets and our flood light outside, as well as pulling up lots of weeds from in the front. It's amazing how much work you can get done when you have four people working at the same time and there are no little kids around. We were grateful for the help in getting some things taken care of around the house. Matthew and Christy are always helpful when they come to visit, which we appreciate.
Sunday was a sad day because the Clemons family had to leave to go back to Naperville. They planned to leave after we left for church at 10:30, giving the kids a little more time to play together that morning. It was so fun having them visit, and I'm glad they were able to get the time off to come visit for an extended weekend. We hope that they will come visit us often in our new home. :)
Aedan talked about Brielle quite a bit after she left, and it was a bit of an adjustment getting used to our house without three extra people. The house always feels so much emptier. On Sunday afternoon after Samantha had quiet time, Ben took her over to campus with him so he could get something from his office. He let her ride her bike, and she was pretty excited about that, feeling like a big kid riding on the sidewalks of campus.
Monday was back to a normal week for us with Ben going to campus and me taking the kids to swimming lessons. Aedan didn't make it very long in the water because it was pretty chilly, so we sat up in the bleachers together. I brought my phone with me that day so that I could take some videos of Samantha swimming and jumping in the water. She certainly enjoys herself in pool, and I'm glad we had this opportunity to enroll them in swim lessons again. Once the semester starts, I will be able to get a pass to the Norris Center for pretty cheap, which means Ben and I can bring the kids swimming whenever we want to throughout the school year. Coming on a regular basis will definitely help to improve their swimming skills.
This is not the best angle of Aedan's face, but he found my phone and wanted to take a picture of himself, so here he is pushing the button to take his own picture. He thought he was pretty cool. :)
(Blog about July 26-August 1, 2016)
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