Swim Lessons

Today was Ben's final day of swim lessons. John and I were able to go watch the last 15 minutes and see what they had learned. Ben is not an Olympic swimmer after eight swimming lessons, but he did learn some valuable lessons, some about swimming. Parents were not allowed to stay during lessons and this was hard for the kids. Two of them cried every day the first week and one did not come back for the second week of class. Although Ben was very worried about it, he never cried and was very brave. Every day we prayed about his lessons and we prayed for Graham and Banks. Ben learned that even though I was not there to watch over him, God was still there watching over him and taking care of him.

Jumping in from the side.

Swimming to Mrs. Debbie.

Swimming from Mrs. Debbie to Mrs. Jennifer.

On the diving board.

Ben feet just wouldn't jump so Mrs. Debbie threw him in. Yesterday, Mrs. Debbie said Ben needed to practice jumping. That he would just step off instead of jumping. We practiced jumping off the chair in his room last night and this morning, but he froze up when we were watching. Debbie said he jumped much better before we arrived.

Coming up from his splash.

Swimming to the ladder.

Ben's favorite part was playing train in the "water tubes" during the last five minutes of lessons.

Having a special popcicle treat to celebrate the last day of swim lessons with Burn and Harris.

Since Ben did not get to swim any in a big pool last summer because we had to stay home with Mollie, he knew nothing about how to swim. My goals for these lessons were Ben becoming comfortable in the water and to not freak out when water gets in his eyes. They accomplished both these things and more. We are making John's membership at the Y a family membership so that we will have a place to swim and Ben can keep practicing the skills he has learned.

Manna

This week Ben's Sunday School class learned about God providing food for the Israelites when He brought them out of Egypt. His Sunday School teacher brought Frosted Flakes to represent manna. When we were grocery shopping yesterday, he saw Tony the Tiger and said, "It's manna. I want manna."

Spots

Mollie has spots, mainly on her face, stomach, and backs of her arms. She is having a reaction to the chicken pox vaccine that she received during her 1-year-check up eleven days ago. They aren't contagious and they don't seem to itch or bother her in any way. I called the Pediatric Clinic. The nurse said it's fairly common, to give her Benadryl, and that they would go away in a few days.

Family Fun

Although it was pretty hot today, we spent hours playing outside.

Mollie crawled into her little pool and started fussing because there wasn't any water in it. Although she was not in a swimsuit, I ran an inch or two of water for her. She is splashing with her feet and trying to catch the water with her tongue.

Ben was busy working on a dog house for his dog Sammy, who has curly hair and is as big as John. Of course, we don't actually have a dog, but Ben has been begging for a "real dog" for several days. He painted the little house (with water) and installed gutters and drainage pipes (his words).

Ben helped John clean out the inside of my car.

Our next family fun activity is a camping trip. We're planning one in July. Before then, we're going to make a test run in the back yard. The tent was delivered on Friday so we had to set it up for the weekend just to check it out. It's HUGE -- 14 x 9 with a 6 ft ceiling.

Tomatoes

John ate the first ripe tomato from our garden last night. I picked five more today.

VBS

Bible School was the first week of June. This was Ben's first year to attend and he loved every minute of it. As we were getting in the car after Bible School one day, he said, "Mama, we could play Bible School in our kitchen!!!"

Ben and his good friend Sam watching the closing program.

On the first day they painted canvas bags to put their art projects in during the week. Throughout the week, they painted, glued, glittered, the list goes on and on. Their teacher, Mrs. Rachel, planned lots of activities to keep them busy. On the last day of Bible school Ben took Rachel a card that he had made. He had me write in it, "I love you Mrs. Rachel."

Mrs. Kristy reading the class a story. The class was made up of 2 and 3 year olds. It was only open to kids whose parents were working at VBS.

They went outside each day to eat popcicles and do activities like drawing with sidewalk chalk, blowing bubbles, and they even potted flowers.

Ben calls these "push, push, push popcicles" now.

I don't think Ben is in this picture, but the "magic rope" is. Ben was very impressed with Mrs. Rachel's magic rope. They all had to hold on to the rope until they got to their destination.

Hanging out with Ms. Audrey.

Snack time.

This was one of Ben's favorite things that they did -- painted the church with water. Ben tells us about it everytime we walk into the building.

Ben wanted to wear these particular shorts because Sam has a pair just like them. That's a strange coincidence since Nana made Ben's shorts. Sam also has a grandmother who sews that lives in the same town as Nana and obviously shops at the same fabric store.

Playing on the church playground with friends.

Swinging.

Calm

Since Mollie learned to pull up and cruise around holding on to the furniture, every night has been a battle at our house. While I'm cooking supper, Ben likes to watch Bob the Builder and build huge block houses on the coffee table in the living room. Mollie doesn't mean to knock over his blocks, but it sometimes happens while she's going for Ben's cup or snack. As soon as Mollie gets within two feet of his blocks, Ben starts yelling. Last week, I put up a gate between the living room and kitchen and that helped, but Mollie would get tired of being limited to the kitchen.

Yesterday, I did something that I thought I would never allow: I put the portabale DVD player in Ben's room so that he could watch Bob. I set up the folding table and pulled the block wagon back into Ben's room. After initial objections (he yelled like something was attacking him), he watched Bob and built a house for his dinosaurs in his room. Mollie stayed in the kitchen and living room and there was no yelling about Mollie getting near his blocks. Our house was such a peaceful place while I cooked supper. It also solved the problem of Floss and Gulie sleeping in the living room at night. Ben thought we should keep the lights off and our voices quiet after he put them to bed so that we wouldn't wake them up.

Toothy

Mollie's teeth have come in in the craziest order. First she got her two front bottom teeth. Then she got vampire teeth on top. Then ONE front tooth. Thankfully, the right front tooth is starting to poke through. John was very worried that she was going to have just one tooth in the front. He kept asking me, "Have you read about this?"

Pool Time

Cara gave Mollie this tiny little pool. Mollie was content in it for about two minutes before she crawled over the side and headed to . . .

the bigger pool where John and Ben were playing.

The green pool was too deep for Mollie to sit in by herself so John held her while they played. After 10 minutes or so, I took her inside and let her play in the bathtub so that John and Ben could play together. This is the only time Ben has been in the pool this week. Ben's swim lessons were cancelled this week due to a death in the swim instructor's family. We'll finish up next week.

Dressed

Ben recently mastered putting on his own shorts. On Saturday, he came running into the kitchen and told John and me, "Look, I'm wearing long-sleeved shorts!" (Pants)

This morning while I was dressing Mollie, he came into her room wearing his red and white crab shorts. I told him good job and got the matching shirt for him to put on. Mollie had to go back to the pediatrician this morning to retake her urine test. When we got to the doctor's office, she had a dirty diaper. While I was changing Mollie, Ben peed. (He just started peeing standing up at the end of last week, but thankfully his aim has improved quickly. It went down the wall a couple of times the first day.) It was then that I realized that he was wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and NO underwear.

P.S. The lab found bacteria in Mollie's urine sample on Friday. Most likely it was from the dirty diaper she had in the waiting room, but they wanted to retest it to make sure she didn't have a urinary track infection. They sent us home with a bag to take a urine sample in this morning and return it to the lab. The bag didn't stick on right, so Mollie had a wet diaper and an empty bag after nap. I took her to the doctor's office planning to sit in the waiting room and wait for her to pee there so that they could get a clean sample. BUT as I wrote earlier, she had a dirty diaper when we arrived so they couldn't do it. Instead, they sent me home with TWO bags to try again tomorrow.

Overabundance

This is what I picked from our garden just today. This week I've picked 13 cucumbers and 14 squash. What do you do with that many cucumbers other than give them away?

Dr. Ben

Ben wore his stethoscope to the pediatric clinic. Their pediatrician called him "Dr. Elder" and let him help. Ben was right beside Dr. Bowling following every move.

Ben listening to Mollie's heart before the doctor came in.

Well Baby

Today was Mollie's one-year well baby checkup. She weighed 19 pounds and was 30 inches long. I forgot to ask what percentile those were in.

Playing with a car while we were waiting for the doctor to come in. She was making motor noises.

Following the doctor's instructions to play in the sink to try to get her to pee in a bag. After drinking a cup of juice and playing in the water, she FINALLY peed.

She got three shots and had blood drawn. You can see one of her bandaids on her arm. She's playing with her first sucker, which she loved.

Movie Time

Swim lessons are halfway over. We have four more days next week. The DVD players in the car have gotten a lot of use this week. Normally I have very strict rules about watching movies in the car -- only on long trips for a limited amount of time. NEVER around town. This week we're breaking all my DVD in the car rules. Ben's swim lessons are during Mollie's normal nap time. To keep them awake on the way home, I've been letting them watch a movie. Early in the week, I went to Radio Shack and bought cables to hook the two DVD players together so that they both play the same DVD at the same time.

Jurassic House

Last week, Ben used his money to buy a dinosaur that he named Floss. This week he bought a friend for Floss that he named Gulie. Every evening, he gets them ready for bed. He brushes their teeth and puts on their pajamas (from Mollie's hamper).

Ben tucking his dinosaurs into bed. Earlier in the evening, he builds a house for them while watching Bob the Builder. He's currently a Bob the Builder addict. He's watched it every evening since Memorial Day while I cook supper. The trick is keeping Mollie from knocking down his house. There are constant cries of "Mollie is near my house! MMMOOOOLLLLLIIIIIEEEEE!" Mollie may only be looking in the direction of Ben's blocks to cause him to scream.

This is the house Ben built tonight. I put up the baby gate between the living room and kitchen to keep Mollie out of it. That seemed to work better.

China Doll

Mollie is a great eater. For supper Tuesday night, Mollie ate teriyaki lo mein and an egg roll.

Big Words

Ben told his swim teacher today that he was "stressed and very concerned" about blowing bubbles, moving his arms, and kicking his feet at the same time. I think she had a hard time keeping a straight face. I was just glad that he didn't cry. He was "stressed, frustrated, and very concerned" that I was leaving him at swim lessons and going to run errands. (I shouldn't have let him overhear me tell John that I would run an errand for him while Ben was at swim lessons.) There was a kid in complete meltdown before swim lessons and Ben had to work very hard to be brave.

Swim Lessons

Ben started swim lessons this afternoon. I have been praying and praying about this first lesson. Ben has been very worried because I couldn't stay during his lesson and has asked me over and over again for the past few days to stay. The instructor's rule is "No Parents" so I knew that wouldn't be possible. I was afraid he would cry when I left. Beyond being upset because I was leaving, he also doesn't like to get water in his eyes. Swim lessons could have been a disaster. Before we left home we prayed together that he would have lots of fun and love his teacher. As we were driving to lessons, Ben began to talk about how much fun he had staying with Susie and Hadley Jo so I knew he was thinking about other times I had left him places and that it had been fun. The teacher was super nice and started talking to him as soon as we arrived. By the time I left, he was comfortable. No tears or even a mention of me staying. When I returned, they said he did great. He was happy. He had put his head in the water and blew bubbles. He's excited about going again tomorrow. I took the above picture from behind a bush as I was headed out the gate. Lessons are 45 minutes a day Monday through Thursday for two weeks.