At Least I'm Not the Only One

I read this blog, Dooce, almost every day. It's about life in general and she also has a 4 year old girl. Today's posting makes me smile, because this conversation has been happening every night at my house for about three weeks. Here's an excerpt from the posting:

She finished her meal in record time, and as I was preparing a pot of green peas she asked for a treat. I told her yes, but she'd have to wait until her father and I had finished eating, and since we'd just started cooking it would be a while. She sat there thinking this through, processing the fact that she would eventually get her prize, but not fully comprehending the time frame. That's when she leaned over in her chair, grabbed agonizingly at her stomach and said, "Mama, my tummy hurts, and I need a chocolate treat to make it feel better."

Right. Unless you're on day two of your period it doesn't work that way. So I said, "Excuse me?"

She hunched over so far that her face was almost touching her knees. "It hurts," she moaned, her voice as raspy as a 50-year smoker who has to breathe through a tube. "It hurts so bad. A chocolate treat will fix it."


So, at least it's not just me. And, here's the tummy hurtin', chocolate-requesting girl now.

Swim Lessons

Will and Kaity have been taking swim lessons Monday through Thursday for about three weeks now. They've got one more week to go. You would think that living in Florida, everyone swims pretty well. Most everyone in my family does not. I'd like for my kids to swim better than I do and be comfortable in the water. That's hard to do when we don't have a pool for them to practice in. We've got a couple places to go and my parents have a pool, but it's definitely not the same.

Will's had dramatic improvement in three weeks. He started off with the "I can't swim" and "I don't want to put my face in the water." I got him some goggles and that really helped his confidence and comfortability. Thursday, he got out of the pool saying "I can swim!" He often has confidence issues when trying new stuff like this, so this was great to hear him say. He can't actually swim, of course, but he did go about three feet from the wall to the instructor on his own.

Kaity has had a harder time with swim lessons. She really enjoys them, but has a really hard time listening (like she does with everything right now). For some reason, this week she hasn't wanted to put her face in the water either. Not sure what that's about. Here she is with her instructors (two for her age group).

She's actually swimming under the water here. Supposed to be on top, but close enough.


Once Will got his goggles, this is how he's spent most of his lesson - underwater.


Kaity is supposed to sit on the top step when it's not her turn. She has a really hard time doing this and didn't get a cookie after lesson once last week. All the kids get a cookie unless they really misbehave. She managed not to get one for not listening and not staying on the step.


Will's doing great. This was his first instructor. He's moved up into another class that's not quite so beginner.


He's supposed to roll over when he needs to breathe right now, but that means he has to be able to float.



Goat Update
We've got goats! Check it out here.

Crochet Projects

I've been crocheting since I was a little girl. I really enjoy it. It's something I can carry with me and do whenever I want. And, the projects make great gifts.

I've made a number of crib sized baby afghans over the years for myself and friends. Here are two that I'm getting ready to give away. The pink one is going to Kaity so she can have a new pink one at school. She is VERY attached to her blankie. Since she was about 3 months old, I could just give her the blankie and she'd stop crying. She still does today. She's had a number of different sizes and colors, but she really prefers the pink one.

The blue and white one is going to a friend of mine from college. She's having her first baby, a boy, any day now. I just need to get it shipped to her.


I'm also working on a numbe of other crochet projects. I've got a big afghan in the works and I also really like making potholders, scarves, and hats. Those last three are my newest crochet endeavors and I'm still learning how to make them. I made Alli a hat for Christmas last year that was about 3 times too big. If you've got any good crochet patterns, send them my way!

Pet Escapades

We've had a busy couple of days with our pets, so let me fill you in a little.

April
Tuesday morning, we went out to feed the rabbits and chickens and April (the female rabbit) was missing! Her cage mut have gotten left open the day before. Kaity often closes it, so it seems like it's closed, but it's not actually locked. April must have found her way out into the wide world of Wacahoota. Will and Kaity were kind of upset, but I explained that she was probably gone for good. As we're feeding the chickens, Will yells "there she is!!" Sure enough, she'd been hiding in the brush and had come out when we came to feed. She was in a direction I don't normally look in, so I would never have seen her. But, eagle eyes Will spotted her. It took me about 10 minutes to catch her after instructing the kids NOT to run after her. She was very, very happy to go back into her cage. She's definitely not a wild bunny.


Tebow
I took Tebow to the vet this morning to get neutered. But, he hasn't done anything terribly bad this week. He weighed in at about 65 pounds (which he smooshed me with last night when he was sitting in my chair with me). He probably won't even realize anything's missing. We should be starting puppy classes soon hopefully.


Henrietta
While feeding the chickens this morning, Henrietta let herself out of the pen. We spent a few minutes chasing her around and she clucked loudly at all of us. I haven't chased chickens in YEARS...it brought back a lot of memories.


Leroy (not my animal, but Erin's)
Sounds like Erin and Luke are getting another kitten to join Hagrid (boy, he's going to be unhappy). They pick him up on Friday. I don't have any kitties anymore since CT's gone. I'm jealous and ready for a kitty, but I'll wait till later this fall.


Puppy (again not my animal, but Alli's)
Alli adopted a really cute nameless puppy last night from some really sketchy people. She's really young and I'll get to help take care of her some. Alli's new apartment is only about a quarter mile from my house, so I can probably go let her out during my lunch a couple days a week. Right now, she doesn't have a name, but should have one soon. I visited her this morning on my way to work and I'm going to try to take the kids to see her tomorrow on the way home. They'll be in love. She sure is cute!




And, did I mention that we're getting goats?