Tag Archives: swimming

Wading through the deep end seemingly alone

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The day didn’t start well, but that’s not always the end all indicator of things to come. I’m on my toes and walking on egg shells almost all the time. Will this set her off? Will that?

Last week Sophia started swimming class at the preschooler level. She did really well especially considering she hasn’t ever met this particular instructor. She made Kurt hang out at the edge of the pool for the first half of the session, but then he left and sat by me on the bench closest to her. Sophia actually participated a little. She even let the teacher take her and swim around a little. Sophia seemed a little confused about the teacher being in charge and not me telling her what to do next. After each little song or activity Sophia would climb out of the pool and coming up to us for reassurance. We had to keep telling her to go listen to the teacher so she would know what was coming next, but I was happy. I think she took to the change very well.

It wasn’t the same yesterday. She didn’t want to get her swimsuit on before leaving for class. She didn’t want to get dressed, eat, put her shoes on, or get in the car. Each step was another struggle. We frequently have these mornings and there is always a chance the testy beginning won’t continue throughout the day. This was not one of those lucky days.

Once we arrived at the pool Sophia happily took off her clothes and waited for class to start, but then she didn’t want to go in the pool. Kurt and I had agreed the night before that after her swimming class we would go to IHOP as we did the week before, so I told Sophia, “If you get in and swim with the teacher you can have chocolate milk.”

“Choket miwk.” She said with a huge smile on her face. She turned and practically ran to the pool, but then stopped abruptly. Kurt finally somehow coxed her into the pool and then we again had the chore of trying to get her to stay there with the teacher. Each time it was her turn to kick around the pool the teacher would extend the offer and Sophia would refuse and climb out again. It was getting close to the end of class and Kurt asked the instructor to take Sophia for a short swim on her turn instead of waiting for her to warm up. That did not go well. She began crying and immediately climbed out of the pool.

We went to her and told her how great she did swimming with the teacher but she continued crying as if we weren’t even there. It’s all very normal for her to cry as if she’s in a whole other world apart from the rest of us. She doesn’t seek comfort from us at all when she’s in this state. All we can do is wait for it to be over.

We went to IHOP and Sophia not only got her chocolate milk but a large size one just like mom’s. Last week it took a lot of convincing that there was actually chocolate milk in the kid cup just like in mom’s glass, so we thought it would be easier if we just ordered the same thing for both of us. As usual, we were wrong. Nothing goes over smoothly not even treats. It’s really irritating and exhausting. Sophia began waving her hands and saying, “All done. Ready go now.”

After a while she calmed down and just sat there. Our food arrived; we offered her pancakes anything we knew she would eat. She didn’t want any of it. She mumbled something that we just couldn’t decode and as usual the harder we tried the more upset she became. I heard the word “wed” meaning “red” in one of her responses and thought maybe she was referring to the red crayon she was given with the kids coloring placemat. That wasn’t it. I followed her eyes and looked across the table from her at the only other red item. The ketchup, the condiments. You’ve got to be kidding me! Every single time we go out to eat she wants to arrange the condiments on the table, but she couldn’t reach them this time. I placed the ketchup, bowl of sugar packets, and the salt and pepper shakers in front of her. She arranged them all along with her crayons and folded place mat in her own specific order in front of her and then she could drink her chocolate milk. The chocolate milk meant as a fun and special treat.

Kurt and I exchanged looks and I just wanted to cry. I think I was perpetually holding back tears all day. You can’t tell me this is normal behavior for a three year old. I know everyone is different. Don’t fucking tell me we’re all different. I’m fine with different and even difficult. I don’t even mind a challenge but jesusfuckingchritalready this is so far beyond that. I’m perpetually on eggshells! I’ve only given a tiny appetizer of her quirks.

I have no worries that when she grows up she’ll be able to find a significant other that will love her quirks and all. She’ll have kids if she wants and if she chooses, a fantastic career in some heavily mathematical, science, engineering, or computer programming type field. But right now she’s driving me absolutely crazy!

chocolate milk at IHOP

Picture take 10/20/2010.

November, 30 posts in 30 days nablopomo.com

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Just Another Splash For The Adrenalin Junkie

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As we got ready for the day I told Sophia, “Come on let’s get ready for swimming.”

“Splash!” She said excitedly.

Great, yeah I’m going to get splashed a lot. There really isn’t any point to me putting my hair up in a bun is there? Sophia enjoyed jumping off the edge of the wall into my arms several times. On one occasion, she jumped before I said three and I was able to catch her before she was all the way in the water. The instructors frequently emphasis the importance of teaching the kids only jump when the cue is given, but this is the only time it feels like a dog obedience class for toddlers.

Then on one occasion after I gave the ok, Sophia didn’t quite jump, but instead slipped and rolled into the pool. I was standing at a jump distance and not prepared for the roll into the water. She went under and I saw bubbles floating up. I pulled her up. She looked scared. She didn’t cough at all so I guess I moved faster than it felt like I did. I must have retrieved her before she inhaled water. I was probably much more afraid than she was, but I hid my fear well or the child just recovers much more quickly than I expect. She almost immediately pointed to the edge of the pool indicating she wanted to go again, and she did. I think my heart continued to pound well after the class.

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Cookies Made to Look Like a Burger are still Cookies

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The third day of camp we arrived right on time for sign in and at the time Sophia’s buddy came up to us I was squatting trying to convince Sophia to put “friend” in her backpack and to give me back the house keys she was playing with in the car. Sophia saw her buddy and moved around behind me, away from her buddy, and tried to cling to my back. She didn’t cry and she didn’t retain all the Velcro qualities of the previous day, but she still didn’t want to separate from me on her own.

After she was whisked away, I went through the daily paperwork which indicates, who signed the child in, who will sign them out, and that the child doesn’t have any allergies to the food items that will be offered at snack time. I realize that fresh foods are more difficult to keep and because of that, the cost can add up, but I’m still very disappointed in what will be served today.

They made a mini-burger with Nilla Wafer cookies for buns, half an Oreo cookie for the meat patty, and I’m guessing half the white filling. The filling was colored with red and green food coloring for the ketchup and lettuce. On the side were chips that looked very similar to shoe- string potatoes used to represent fries. The only healthy part of the snack was the other side, which were slices of ham that had cream cheese spread on them. The ham and cheese are rolled and sliced for bite-sized ham and cheese swirls. I guess I should just be happy Sophia is in an environment where she can see other kids her age eating these things. It’s just that it would be nice if those things were more like, oh I don’t know, strawberries, carrots, peas, or hell even a real mini-hamburger would be nice.

When I picked up Sophia her buddy told me that Sophia really liked the playground a lot, especially the slide. I already knew that but it’s nice that she had fun with someone other than mommy at the park and that it was clearly visible to her buddy. Last year for Sophia’s second birthday not-a-nanny came to visit. I told her Sophia really likes swimming and runs to the locker room when we arrive and invited her to come with us. After Sophia’s class she asked, “Does Sophia really like it?” We may not see not-a-nanny very often but she knows Sophia well and she couldn’t tell. Yes, she likes it. She’s not protesting and occasionally she’ll smile briefly. That’s about the most I get from her. Sophia and I took a break from her swim classes from about February to June this year. Sophia wanted to play at the park instead and I didn’t want to push swim class to the point of making her hate it, so we took a break. She loves swimming again and now I think it shows a more. She actually participates in class a little more.

Sophia’s buddy also told me that Sophia is very ticklish. Again, yeah, something I know. If a parent with a ticklish kid and doesn’t know it, uummm wow. They’re probably the sort of parent that needs the advice I was receiving from the therapists. Like, “You need to sit on the floor and play with her.” No shit, really?

I asked Sophia’s buddy if Sophia talked at all in the last three days and she told me that she herself hadn’t heard her say anything but that Sophia talked to the occupational therapist that runs one of the classes we attend. I wasn’t surprised at all. That therapist is Sophia’s favorite, but much like her enjoyment of swimming, it’s hard for anyone to tell.

Wednesday:
Today…
I made a…Pencil Critter
I ate a…Cookies (all she ate was the sugar, what a shock)
I liked…Playground

My day was… (in this part of the form the buddy circles one of three choices: fabulous, good, ok) Sophia’s buddy circled fabulous.

Under comments she wrote, “Sophia had lots of fun at the playground today! She loves the slide! Also becoming more comfortable every day!”

pencil critter

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Mission Give Momma A Heart Attack – Great Success

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The first day in Hawaii we spent just kicking back at the beach. That’s what you’re supposed to do in Hawaii when you come from a place where beaches have grains of sand the size of your fist and the water is so cold that is could actually cause arthritis with a single touch.

Our hotel was across the road from the beach and Kurt chose it for that reason. That section of the beach also had a wall in the Ocean built to create a large tide pool for kids. During high tide the wall was covered by water but during low tide their was a pool that was no deeper than four feet. I have some cool photos of the waves crashing up against the wall as the tide came up that I’ll share later.

Kurt and Sophia swimming

Even though there is once place in all of Washington state that has actual sandy beaches and I took Sophia there a few times over the summer, she was still reluctant to touch the sand or even go in the water until I took off my shirt and she saw my swimsuit. Suddenly she was all about taking off her shoes and getting in her swimsuit. She didn’t mind walking through the sand to the water with me right beside her.

Kurt took her out in the water for a while, then I walked in and out of the water several times with her. After a while I went to sit by Kurt on the beach mats he bought. Sophia was far from done with the water. She kept at it, running in and out. She never went further than knee deep on her own and was never more than five feet from us.

There was a tiny step down just beyond the mini surf where the waves had carved a two-inch step in the sand. Sophia always paused at that spot to step down. On one occasion, the spongy sand caused her to loose her balance and she fell in the six inches of water. No water hit her face. Kurt and I watched intensely waiting for her to stand on her own. She was fine, but sat there on all fours for a minute. A mini wave came in raising the water another inch though the kid pool. Then for no reason at all she rolled over on her back. I didn’t wait for any flailing. I was mommy on the spot – I ran to her and grabbed her arm. Her eyes were wide open with fear. I think in that moment I thoroughly tested her for Marfan syndrome. I yanked on that arm lifting her whole body up and out of the water, and the limb stayed attached with all that weight.

She was scared and had completely scared me. She didn’t cry and wasn’t coughing up water. I don’t think her nose or mouth actually got any water in them. I move at mommy-lightning-speeds. Just don’t test me again. E-V-E-R. Please.

Sophia didn’t go to the water on her own for the rest of the day. She played in the sand for a while after that and then would grab one of our hands if she wanted in the water again.

Sophia playing in the sand
sand baby
toes
dumping sand out of the bucket
shoveling sand on herself

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Apology to parents of older kids at the park

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We thought it was so cute to have Sophia use our cell phones as teething rings when she was an infant. She drooled on mine until the recharge connection corroded so badly that the battery could no longer power up completely, so I took it out and the phone became hers. Without the battery, she didn’t like it any longer. There were no lights or beeping sounds when the buttons were pushed. She gave it up immediately and wanted my new phone. I didn’t give in to it this time. It’s the old phone or no phone kid.

Recently I’ve actually been carrying my cell phone around fully charged and everything. I’ve actually been using it a little and so Sophia had to find hers. Anytime I’m on my cell or even the home phone she’ll open hers and start chattering away. LOUDLY. I’m certain she’s mocking me. I can’t hear anything when I’m on the cell phone so I’m sure a speak up to somehow compensate, and she of course picked up on this.

Now that I consistently have my cell with me, so too does Sophia. She’s taken a new shine to the old dead phone, so much so that it takes naps and baths with her. The bath thing drives Kurt batty. He can’t stand that she’s taking electronics into the tub with her even though it doesn’t work at all.

I have to pry it out of her hand when we go swimming and explain that she can have it back when we are out of the water. I don’t think she trusts it’ll stay in the locker while she’s gone. It may party while she’s away and start to think that it can live without her. It’s a wild and independent phone, you know.

Thursday after swimming we went to the park and of course she had her phone. As she climbed up ladders she held the phone with her thumb and index finger, leaving the other fingers free to help her hold onto the bars. Occasionally she would put the phone up on the platform she was climbing up to in order to make the last steps easier. A couple times, she trusted me to hold her most valued possession, but as soon as she reached the top she would insist that she have it back before going down the slide. Someone might call her and she didn’t want to miss it.

I stayed on the ground as she ran about the play area. She passed some older boys (about ten years old) who noticed her cell phone. It was pure and instantaneous jealously, “She has a cell phone!” One shouted. Sophia paid no attention. I bit my tongue and held back laughter.

I can see it now. On the way home that boy tells his parents about the toddler with a cell phone and whines, “why can’t I have one?!”

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Tantrums and Other Antisocial Antics

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At Sophia’s eighteen month checkup almost two months ago, she sat on my lap facing outward towards the nurse. The nurse commented on how big Sophia’s eyes are and said that she would be a heartbreaker, then chuckled and told me that Sophia rolled her eyes at the comment. Yep, I’m going to have my hands full. No doubt about it.
anti social toddler faceThe Monday after her checkup Sophia simultaneously began the temper tantrum phase and the “I can do it myself” phase, probably catapulted by yours truly while attempting to put new shoes on baby-screams-a-lot. I bought her a pair of sandals in the hopes that someday winter will take a hint and acknowledge that it has overstayed its welcome, especially after the whole December flight travel crap.

Sophia seemed to love the new sandals as she spent the following hour after arriving home from the store putting the sandals on and taking them off again. Sometimes she even put each one on the correct foot, but all bets are off when I put the sandals on her. Totally unacceptable and apparently overstepping my bounds as a parent by trying to get her out of shoes she was quickly outgrowing. The child doesn’t like change. I blame her father for this. He purposely passed on those genes to piss me off-fa-fah.

I wound up putting her old shoes on that evening just so we could go out peacefully, and then it started. At a restaurant of all places. Thankfully it was a place we go to frequently. We placed a well mannered toddler in the highchair and without warning; this devilish contraption turned her into exorcist toddler minus the green spewing from the mouth. She rocked back and forth wailing as if we had permanently removed her callused thumb and told her she can’t suck it anymore. That’ll come soon enough, but I promise we won’t actually remove her thumb so put the phone call to CPS on hold for a little while. By the way, she absolutely loves her sandals now and will hang onto my shoulder and lift each foot for me to put them on or of course she’ll put them on herself.

We discovered that she calmed right down when I let her sit in the big people chair next to me. Seriously? She thinks she’s a big girl. She can’t see over the table and she drinks from a sippy cup, but she’s a ‘big girl’.

The next day was a sunny one and the beginning of swimming again. Oh what a relief! The pool was closed for the month of March for cleaning. I was so happy for some scheduled thing to do that I had a great day despite the little one throwing four separate tantrums including two in the locker room before and after swimming. All four occurring before naptime, and included her learning to bite me on one occasion that day. I think she hit the terrible twos at eighteen months. I guess the terrible eighteen months just doesn’t roll off the tongue like the terrible twos do. How long does this crap last anyway?

I need some scheduled activities to help me through the week, so I was happy to sign Sophia up for gymnastics which started two weeks before swimming picked up again but despite the age range listed on the catalog, Sophia simply was not ready for it. Gymnastics was too structured for us. Unlike swimming where we just recite nursery rhymes and encourage kicking across the pool interspersed with moms socializing while the kids from age six months to three years play with water toys, gymnastics insisted that for the entire time children from eighteen months to three years follow a course and listen to what the teacher says.

Through the course, there was a cushy red balance beam no more than six inches high. I tried to help Sophia follow the others but when it came to that spot, putting her on that was like trying to place a cat in a bath tub. She wouldn’t put her legs down at all and wiggled more the closer I brought her to it. She didn’t want to touch the red beam. She didn’t follow any of the directions and she basically just wanted me to carry her all through class. She did like the trampoline, but there was no, grab a toy and bounce on the trampoline with everyone in this class. They only allowed one kid at a time on the trampolines. It was expected that the kids jump while making their way across the trampoline and not linger while the rest had to stand in line and wait their turn.

Sophia is still learning to follow my instructions at home, “no standing on the chair”, “sit on your butt”, and we practice waiting our turn on the slides at the park. That is really enough structure for us right now, thank you very much. We will stick with swimming. Though my I think the nap time benefit of swimming is backfiring on me. She does take good naps but it’s also building her endurance. A couple weeks ago, Kurt and I went for a walk and the midget walked about three quarters of a mile pushing her own stroller.

The tantrums with biting went to the wayside after about three times. My only reaction to them was to yell, “OUCH” and not do what she wanted until she calmed down. But the tantrums continue and ignite with anything from not wanting to get dressed or get a diaper changed, refusing to use known signs or words to convey wants, and demanding to play with certain objects.

Yesterday Kurt and I went on a bike ride and insisted that Sophia wear a helmet. I think bicycle helmets are retarded but we have her wear one because she is up much higher sitting in a chair attached to the back of my bike than she would be if she could ride her own bike, and if I crashed, she would hit her head since she’s strapped in. Otherwise, I think they’re completely useless especially against getting hit from a phantom car that shouldn’t be on a bike trail anyway. In the few times I’ve ever fallen off a bike I’ve never hit my head. I have sprained a wrist but that’s it. I see whole families of helmet people all over. Dumb. And we saw a girl with her helmet family on a pristine powder blue bike wearing a helmet and knee pads. KNEE PADS on a bike, really? I wanted to run over and wrap the child in bubble wrap for her parents. Bubble child just couldn’t be protected enough. *eye roll* Apparently it’s beyond amazing that I survived my childhood because I rode my bike on streets without a helmet or knee pads, but I digress.

My little angel threw a fit as we tried to apply a helmet to her noggin. Secretly I’m thinking, “that’s my girl”, but we insisted. She stopped screaming and crying once I got going but she kept her grumpy face on for the five miles until we reached our playground stopping point, then she got all excited and was trying to get all the straps off to go play.

As long as there aren’t a bunch of rambunctious older kids on a playground Sophia runs to play areas and even engages other children. By engages I mean that she follows boys her own age and older girls. She also tries to politely play with their toys. One time a girl about six years old had a toy cell phone that Sophia wanted to play with. She stood next to the girl watching and then pointed and grunted, which is her own way of requesting just about everything. But if we take the child to a restaurant with a group of Kurt’s coworkers, which we do about once a month, she becomes clingy Velcro baby. She won’t even sit in a chair next to me or go to dad. She must sit on ME, and often times will curl up into a ball on my lap.

With some people, it doesn’t matter how often they come over to our house. Kurt had a friend over to watch motorcycle racing and all Sophia did was sit on Kurt’s lap and give him the baby evil eye from across the room. Sophia does do well with some individual friends though. I’ve gone to the zoo and other outings with a friend that Sophia actually let take her out of her car seat. Another friend who has a three month old of her own is able to get Sophia to laugh and interact with her. Yay for some toddler socialization.

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Visiting hours at the mental hospital

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Brainy baby is plotting against me. I think she’s determined to drive me crazy. She doesn’t talk, but I’m sure she can read and her preferred material seems to be my blog. Crafty baby must have read my post about being clingy because for the past two days has done a total 180.

Tuesday was only different in that I had the TV on in the morning while I got ready for swimming and fed Sophia. I saw the fanfare and listened to the commentary leading up to the event and then Sophia and I left for her swim class. I didn’t get to watch the inauguration as it happened, but that’s ok. I know that even though Chief Justice John Roberts, who should know the constitution backwards, forewords, and upside-down, royally screwed up the presidential oath, Barack Hussein Obama is our rightful president. I can’t say the same for the two terms of the previous presidential squatter. But I digress.

Sophia and I went swimming as usual. She did a lot more kicking than normal and wore herself out. She fell asleep on our way from swimming to Target to pick up some different new sippy cups. Yep, I finally gave up trying to get her to use the AVENT sippy cups and sent those away to a second hand store. I took sleepy head out of her car seat and sat her in the cart sideways all reclined. I though she was still asleep under all her hair but I guess she was just slowly waking up. Either way it was a pleasant Target trip. I bought two Playtex Sipster Spill-Proof cups and one Playtex Coolster Tumbler. She’s not old enough for the Coolster yet, but I can see it being useful in the future.

Towards the end of the shopping trip she became her more normal self, and by that I don’t mean that I needed to carry her like a football as she screamed up and down the isles. A normal trip consists of her pushing the cart herself while holding my purse at her insistence. Please don’t send her any “born to shop” t-shirts. I will burn them. I’m not joking.

I don’t mind her pushing the cart at all. I hang onto the handle to direct and she happily pushes it all over the place. The part that I do mind is that I can’t find a break leaver on the child. I wind up passing the item I’m looking for, rounding the corner, and passing it a second time this time catching the price. If I like the price, we make a third pass where I snatch the item and stealthily lob it into the cart. It’s a good thing I go in knowing what I want because if I had to comparison shop this way I think I’d go quite mad. It literally makes the trip last three times longer than it needs to be, but it wears the child out and that makes me happy. It all boils down to me and my happiness. I’m a selfish bastard.

The ten-minute catnap in the car was enough to throw the whole nap routine off so we ate lunch, read books, and practiced the alphabet and numbers. She finally went down at three and didn’t wake up until Kurt got home. Use of the new tippy cup went well except that she doesn’t tilt her head enough to finish it all. And as usual, there was some crying and lamenting by the child while she was baby-gated out of the kitchen so I could cook. After diner, I sat on the chair in front of the TV and watched Kurtie play with Sophia. She started getting fussing and crying about something and reached out for me, so Kurt lifted her towards my lap. I glared at him, “why, so she stops crying?” OHMYGOD it’s not *just* me! He bowed his head, “oh, you’re right.”

Sophia hasn’t been fussy since, seriously! On Wednesday I went grocery shopping, which by the way does not entail letting the child push the cart. Grocery shopping involves letting the child hold limes, apples, or other fruit or vegetable or canned food that she cannot destroy. It’s our system and it works. Don’t fuck with the system.

After shopping and checking the mail we head home where I put her and as much as I can carry in one trip into the house. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.” I grab the other bags from the car. I return expecting a red face and crocodile tears. Nope, she was just fine. Later I corralled her upstairs while I made trip trips three million trips up and down doing laundry. Not a problem. She was also fine in the evening while I cooked, a first in I don’t know how long.

Thursday was a day of many advances and much cuteness. I made oatmeal for breakfast before swimming and blew on it to cool it off for Sophia. I looked up to see that she was copying me and blowing as well. I sent a spoonful in her direction, “blow” I told her, and she did before taking a bite.

After breakfast I put her in her jacket and told her to wait while I went to start the car so it could warm up. I came back to perfectly content child.

In the swimming locker room, she waved hello to the kids and parents that we see most often, as opposed to the ones that seem to only show up on the first and last sessions. She also let the swim instructor hold her for a moment without making any contorted, “Where’s my mommy” faces. He only ever holds the kids for a second then passes them back to their parent. This time it was like she knew that. On the way out, she waved good-bye to her latest crush, a two and a half year-old boy with huge blueberry eyes.

At dinner I gave her a little of everything we were having including some guacamole, which she ate by taking little pinches and sucking it off her fingers. She waved to get my attention. I asked her what she wanted and she did the sign for more, correctly.

After dinner I went up to our room to read while Kurt played on my computer and Sophia entertained herself by arraigning some board books that come in their own case. She actually entertained herself even though I was within her view but not on the floor with her. Amazing!

Have you ever had a problem with something like a computer and everyone tries everything known to fix the problem but nothing works. Then one day you decide to see if it works and it does. People ask, “What did you do?” I just did what I tried before, but this time it worked. I don’t get it, and thinking about it is going to cause me to need the number of an insane asylum. It’s all part of her master plan isn’t it?

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Flaming party steps bruiser froggy kicks

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I know it looks like I just strung a bunch of unrelated words together to form a title for this post, but they’re related. Trust me. This is how our week has gone from Thursday to today. Pull up a chair. This could take a while. I’ll pour you some tea, or coffee. Do you take sugar? I wasn’t offering that kind of sugar, quit humping my leg.

So it turns out that Sophia didn’t have chickenpox, at least not a full-blown pox break out. I didn’t take her to the doctor or anything. She didn’t have a fever, but she was very sleepy the day I discovered the red dots. I’m sure those weren’t bug bites. I think it was just a couple marks resulting from the pox shot. The three little round dots that I saw (one on her left thigh and two in the diaper area) disappeared within three or four days. All three were red and perfectly round, but none bubbled up like a blister.

Thursday was my mom’s SIXTIETH birthday. We went up to my parent’s house after Kurt got home from work and my dad took us all out for “hibachi-style” Japanese food. I had sushi. Because Mojo talking about spider rolls during the third presidential debate on smarmoofus’ blog made me want some. Actually, I always want sushi.

The last time I went to a hibachi-style restaurant was twenty-five years ago in Hawaii. I was seven. *cringe* Please don’t do the math unless you’re older than I am.

The chef put on a show as usual with this type of place. It was fun to watch, but even more fun was to see Sophia’s reactions to it all. She sat quietly eating the piece of bread I gave her while the chef tossed knives around and tapped the salt shaker each time he used it, but then he added flames, tall flames that gave off a lot of heat. Sophia was wide-eyed and kept looking at me as if to make sure all was ok. The fire went down and the chef went back to tossing an egg into his hat and dicing, mixing, and frying things. Sophia was fine until the second time flames were introduced. That time she freaked out and cried.

Friday we went to a friend’s party and test how late we could visit before the baby turned into a pumpkin. We brought her pack-n-play with us hoping that she might sleep in it. She did sleep at the Misfits Christmas Party of other friends’ nine months ago, or was it a Packers’ party? Either way it didn’t work out this time. We had to leave around eight.

Saturday we visited with our neighbor on their back patio and their dog lured Sophia into walking again. She took three steps towards their little old Lhasa Apso. A little later, she took six steps towards their glider bench. This was the third time I’ve seen her walk and the second for Kurt.

Monday, yes I know I skipped Sunday nothing worth mentioning happened on Sunday, I went to Costco and bought a light winter jacket for when we go to Michigan/Wisconsin for Christmas/New Years. The smallest I could find was 2T. I figured that was close enough and she’ll grow into it anyway. I don’t plan to have her outside a whole lot. I just want her warm going from the car to the house and such. At home, I put it on her. It’s freakin’ HUGE. I told Kurt when he got home and he asked if I took pictures. No. He put it on her again to see for him self, and then called me to see her standing there in the huge jacket. The length of it is down to her knees and the ends of the sleeves are inches past her hands. I popped my head around the kitchen wall to see her start to loose her balance. Instead of bending her knees the way she normally would she bent at the waist, but her feet slipped at the same time and she landed on the hardwood floor right on her forehead. She SHRIEKED and cried. Kurt tried to comfort her, but I had to take her. It took a good five minutes for her to stop crying. After she seemed to calm down, I handed her to Kurt so I could continue cooking, but she started up again. She blamed Kurt for her falling down!

Poor Kurtie felt like shit and apologized profusely to our toddler. She didn’t care. She holds a grudge! I had to put her in her not-a-highchair (booster seat) in the kitchen doorway, and give her Cheerios. Kurt left her alone, but after a few minutes pulled up a chair beside her and asked if he could sit next to her. She kept eating Cheerios. I think that was a snub. She’s one tough cookie! A couple episodes of M*A*S*H and they were buds again.

Today was swimming class and for the first time since the swim session she took at six months, she didn’t curl up in a ball like a little sea otter. She actually kicked in the water. She kicks like a frog. It’s freakin’ cute!

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Floating water baby

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I started Sophia in swimming again. I’m taking her to a new place. I like it a lot better than the high school pool classes we took her to before. The first two sessions at this new place were very similar to the old place, lot of songs and singing Humpty Dumpty before counting to three and letting the baby swimmer ‘jump’ into the pool. The difference was that there were a lot more toddlers in the class and the instructor tries to get to know the infants and toddlers. Also, since those first to sessions the class has progressed and the class we took before never did.

Tuesday and Thursday were her third and fourth swimming sessions. On Tuesday the instructor held one side of a hula hoop while toddler held by a parent holds the other side of the hoop and we passed our infants and toddlers through the hoop to be briefly held by the instructor. He then had them ‘swim’ back to mom or dad. I thought for sure Sophia would cry, but she did fine. She wasn’t sure what to make of this person holding her, but her face didn’t turn upside-down slowing burning red with tears and shrieking like it usually does with many other people.

Thursday we put the kids in life jackets for a while and let them float around. I had Sophia on her back. Again, she did really well. Some stress showed on her face when she realized it wasn’t me that was holding her up, but she just quietly floated near me on her back with her arms and legs tucked in close to her body like a furless sea otter. I wish I had a picture to show, but since I have to be in the water with her, I have none.

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Water Baby and Dad

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Wednesday was Sophia’s second day of swimming. It didn’t go as swimmingly. Kurt and I had decided that because swimming was twice a week I would swim with her on Mondays and he would do Wednesday’s. I think we may reconsider that until after Sophia gets more accustomed to the water.
I want my mommy

Poor baby cried and snotted all over herself. Actually I feel worse for Kurtie cause I think he was really looking forward to having a daddy-daughter activity. She did calm down when he did the Superman theme song and flew her around the water.
Super Baby!

As soon as he finished the song it was back to the red-faced crying and snotting baby. Kurt even tried the M*A*S*H theme and it was a no go. We pulled her out of the water and let her calm down a bit.
Sitting by mom

When the class moved on from the shallow end of the big pool to the 1-foot deep baby pool on the side I told Kurt to give it another shot. She was NOT a happy baby!

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