Swimming Lessons

Eddie completed his first level of swimming lessons last week. He did a great job and is now much more comfortable in the water than he was when he started. Since we were leaving town immediately following swimming lessons on Friday, Dave came with us and got some photos of Ed in the pool.

One of Eddie's biggest problems when it comes to swimming lessons is his inability to remember what he is NOT supposed to be doing. The class sits on the steps and the teacher takes one kid at a time to swim them around. Almost every time the teacher's back was turned, Eddie would start doing something ridiculous. This time, however, he just took the opportunity to practice his kicks.

Then it was Ed's turn to swim on his back. Look at those graceful kicks... Eddie's other big problem with swimming lessons: he doesn't remember to keep his legs straight when he kicks.

Eddie got his form pretty good on floating, though he still isn't confident enough to float on his own. Maybe next summer he'll get that down.

Eddie is sad that swimming lessons are over, but I am not. Watching Eddie during swimming lessons filled me with anxiety bad enough to make my stomach ache. Because of this, I decided not to sign him up again this summer, but to wait until next year. Hopefully by then, he'll be better about remembering the rules.

Six Months Old

Saturday was Violet's 6 month mark! Eddie and I took her in to see the pediatrician today. She now weighs 18 pounds, 1 ounce (86th percentile) and is 27 inches long (88th percentile). And she has her very first ear infection.

Violet continues to be a joy for us. She is a very happy girl (when she's not sick) and she puts up with a lot of "love" from her brother. She is extremely active and I often check on her in the night and find one or more of her limbs poking out between the crib slats because she rolls around so much. Here are some new things she does:

Kisses

She has started giving kisses, sort of. Eddie thinks it is hilarious to put his face right in front of her so she'll lean forward and suck on his nose or his cheek or his hair.

Dancing

When music starts playing, she gets this look of concentration on her face and starts swaying forward and back. It is pretty darn cute.

Sitting

Violet is suddenly a very stable sitter. Her biggest problem comes when she bends completely in half to reach something and ends up falling on her face instead. Usually she doesn't mind. She just rolls out of it and rolls around the room.

And here are some of her new favorite things:

Eddie's Toys

Luckily, we haven't run into too many conflicts about toys yet, but I'm sure it is coming. Violet has baby toys that she plays with if that is what is available, but if she has her choice, she always goes for action figures and matchbox cars. She especially likes Man (made famous here) and Eddie's blue Batman. She also enjoyed playing with Ken at Grammy's house last weekend. Her current favorite of Eddie's toys seems to be My Pal Scout, a talking, singing dog. When Scout starts to sing, Violet stops crying and starts to dance!

Baths/Swimming

Violet loves to splash. The two times she has been in the pool, she has loved it. She tries to swim away and is not afraid to put her face in the water. In Grammy's pool on Saturday, she sat in the baby float and kicked herself all around the pool.

The Best Parts of My Day

Sometimes, being a mom is hard work. Being a mom to a three year old boy is even harder. Eddie and I have constant power struggles. But I have found that there are certain parts of nearly every day that I treasure. Then when the kids are asleep and I can think about how cute they are, I always remember these special times with them. I thought I should write them down so I'll always remember.

When Violet wakes up

Generally, Eddie gets up before Violet does. A lot of days, he gets through breakfast and is busy watching his cartoons when I finally go upstairs to get Violet out of bed. As I bring her down the stairs, I say, "Hey Eddie! Look what I found upstairs… it's a baby _____ (fill in the blank with a random animal)." Some of my favorites are "alligator," "giraffe," and "pteranodon." Eddie immediately responds, "No, it's a baby Violet!" This is one time of day when both kids are in a good mood and Eddie thinks I'm pretty hilarious. I'm sure that won't last too long.

When Eddie goes to bed

Lately Eddie has become a bit of a Momma's boy. I am okay with this most of the time. I am starting to realize that he is growing up and that in a few years, he will probably want very little to do with me. Eddie seems to love me most at bedtime. We brush his teeth, say his prayers, then he instantly says "I just want you." So we snuggle for a few minutes and I attack him with kisses and we talk about whatever he wants -- what we did earlier or what will happen tomorrow. Then I find him a stuffed animal to take my place and say "I love you." Here's the best part: he usually responds with "I just love you, too."

When Violet is ready for a nap

I love when Eddie is entertaining himself and Violet is ready for a nap. I take her upstairs and rock her until she settles down. We sit and she squirms around, wrestling with me to see everything in the room, then finally ending up cradled in my arms, holding my nose or my hair or my chin. She's getting so big so fast that I am worried she'll soon be too big to rock and I know I'll miss it.

When Eddie lets me read to him

Eddie has always been a bit of a snuggler. When he was a baby, we would sit in the rocking chair a lot, reading, singing, and just snuggling. I'm sad that I don't get to do that much with Violet, but she never wants to sit still, so I don't think she'd go for it anyway. Lately, Eddie has stopped letting me read stories to him as often as I would like. But when he does let me, I think it's great (as long as he lets me stop after a few and doesn't purposely select the longest stories). He is so smart and has pretty funny reactions to things these days. He likes to tell me which random Dr. Seuss illustrations are really him, me, Dave, and Violet (the Beft that always go to the left).

When Eddie plays nice with Violet

Eddie loves Violet a lot. And she loves him back. Now that she's getting through being a helpless, fragile baby, she is a lot more fun. Most of my day is spent saying things like, "Stop touching your sister" or "Get away from her face" or "Don't push her over" or "Let her play with some of the toys." When Eddie stops harrassing her and just plays with her instead, it is really cute. She attacks his face and licks him all over, which he finds hilarious. And she loves to listen to him talk and to watch him do funny things. They also have the same taste in TV shows:

Great Grandparents

Here are some photos of the kids visiting their Great Grandparents on my side of the family. The photos were taken in late May, but I kept forgetting to post them until now. It's been long enough that Violet looks like a completely different girl.

Great Grandma Barton

Great Grandpa Barton

Great Grandma Jones

Great Grandpa Jones

Goodbye, Combover

Violet's hair has always been one of the first things people notice about her. Unfortunately, it has been falling out on the sides, and the new hair coming in is much lighter than the stripe of long, dark baby hair she still has on the top.

This has led to a rather unfortunate combover. Kristen has been talking about giving Violet a haircut to even things out a bit, but was hesitant to go through with it. After more waffling over the issue this morning, I assured her it would grow back, and she decided to take action.

Violet is much younger than Eddie was when he had his first haircut, and didn't really have any concept of what was going on.

She was quite indifferent for most of the process before breaking down near the end. But I think you will agree that the final result is a considerable improvement.