Sunday, January 11, 2009

Swimming in the winter..

I started taking a masters swimming class and when I took Lily to the gym to go to the day care and I told her I was going to be swimming she pleaded w/ me to be able to swim too. I promised her I would take her this weekend to swim. On Sat I took Lily to family swim at our gym. There is a big warm water pool there that they do water aerobics in that is open for a few hours on the weekends for families.

She LOVED it! The look of joy on her face every time she got in the water was amazing. She even 'swam' by herself using pool noodles under her arms/shoulders. She wouldn't let me help her and she swam up and down the pool. She would even put her face in the water and go under water w/ no problems. We swam for a good hour. She was so exhausted on the way home that she crashed in the car (rare for her) and so much so that we almost got her straight to bed ... this has only happened ONE other time in her life.

Of course Jason wanted to swim too after hearing Lily talk about it. I told him I would take him on Sunday (today), but he napped a bit late. Around 4pm when he was finally waking up (after snoozing and lounging on the couch w/ me for about 30 mins) he asked to go to the pool. Family swim ends at 5pm, but we rushed and got over there and in thew after by 4:30p and he loved it too. I really wondered if he would really like it. This summer he was never as excited as Lily. I was also surprised when he used the noodles just as Lily did and loved it. At first he wasn't putting his face in and he freaked a bit when a kid splashed him, but he warmed up to it and was putting his face in and jumping from the edge and going under. The first time he jumped in he was a little shocked, but immediately said, "I'm okay." He jumped in numerous times after that. When I told him it was time to go he got out and put his noodles away and we left. I thought surely he'd throw a fit. I am so proud of both of them.

It was interesting to take them one after the other after that... to see how different they are. Lily could actually swim and move from one end of the pool while Jason would thrash about and not go anywhere (reminds me of someone else I know). Lily had no interest in jumping in the water while Jason was really excited about that.

The kids have been - once again - throwing us for a loop w/ the whole sleeping thing. Lily napped today for the first time since the pappies went away. She's been so tired. Jason has been napping short and on top of that they have been staying up till AT LEAST 8pm ... meaning we put them to bed by 7p and they are up there screwing around, going to the potty and generally pushing the envelop/our buttons until around 8pm. As I type this at 8:30pm this thing is not over.. they are still up there making noise and pushing us. We are really trying to drop the hammer on the kids and be consistent and follow through w/ our threats. I think it's really showing a difference in Jason, but Lily.. man she just doesn't care. If we ake her toys, doesn't care, turn out the light, doesn't care, shut the door, doesn't care. She will just repeatedly get up and open the door and/or turn the light back on. For naps today I had to take her poodle and shut her door and then sit up there before she would stay in her room and finally fell asleep. Little stinker. They've also been getting up 30 mins to an hour earlier. Blasted sleep. It's hard to believe that one day we will have to blast them out of bed to get them to go to school. Guess they have to make up this sleep deprivation some time right? ha

5 comments:

  1. What about using positive rewards for Lily? Sounds like she loves to swim with Mommy...create a chart where she earns stars to go swimming with you for everytime she goes to bed relatively on time.

    Also, try putting "depsosits" in her bank all day so when you want to make a 'withdrawl', you will have an easier time.

    Just a suggestion. I find with my students, they don't all fit under the same management scheme so I have to individualize it; even though it drives me nuts to do this! LOL

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  2. great idea. I will try it. Thank you. Wish you lived closer... or I guess it would be wish I lived closer. ;)

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  3. Oh yeah, the sleep thing? that is hard. I am pretty sure Liam was up at 4:30 the other morning. That makes for a well-rested and happy kid...NOT!

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  4. Anonymous9:06 PM

    Cute!

    I've found swimming to be great for my toddler!

    :)

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  5. okay anonymous... are you going to reveal yourself? :)

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