Bye-Bye Summer!
The official beginning of fall is still weeks away, but today we said good-bye to summer vacation. Tomorrow T will go back to teaching, and Tiny, Buba, and I will begin to reestablish our school year schedule and routines. All in all, we had a great summer (not counting the two weeks of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease- of course!). The kids went to their first carnival, we snuck in trips to the nearby farms and the zoo, and we had a great time swimming at Grandpa’s pool this past month.
But this summer was also crazy busy for me. I took on more students and more hours than I ever have for private tutoring, and my schedule was all over the place as I tried to fit kids in around their camps, playdates, and scheduled activities. Some days I’d be teaching at 7:30am, while other days, I didn’t have a session until 11am. One day I’d have three or four students in a row, the next I’d have two in the morning and one in the afternoon, and the next I’d have just one student all day. It was a lot to keep track of and a lot to prepare for. So, I was really glad that this past Friday was my last day of summer tutoring.
However, I’m going right from summer tutoring into fall tutoring with no break at all. Tomorrow my fall schedule begins, but at least I’ll be back to just one hour a day. I’m so grateful for all the families who hired me and kept us afloat all summer while T (and his paycheck!) were on vacation. But I’m also so glad to be going back to more predictable days.
We ended our summer vacation with a weekend full of family fun. Yesterday we hit a couple of yard sales (and picked up a Madeline tea set for $2!) before heading over to our twin club’s summer event at a sprinkler park in our town. The kids had a great time running through the sprinklers and fountains before snagging a spot at the picnic tables and wolfing down hot dogs, veggie chips, grapes, and brownies at the potluck lunch. (Seriously, I’m not sure there was any chewing going on. That food just disappeared!) This morning we ran errands. I got an 80 minute swedish massage while the kids were napping (a reward for all my hard work this summer 
), and then we spent the afternoon at the pool with Grammy and Grandpa. Both Tiny and Buba were clearly very comfortable in the kiddie pool, as well as the shallow end of the big pool, which has convinced me that we must get them Y memberships and keep the swimming going as much as we can.
I know tomorrow will begin a period of adjustment for everyone. This year, I expect the kids to have a harder time with T going back to work than in years past. But I’m sure it won’t be long before we’re all back into the school year groove of things. And I’m really looking forward to it.
Every Letter Makes a Sound
We have the the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics set on the door of our refrigerator. I’m the type of mom who can’t get the kids ready for bed until all the toys have been accounted for and put back in their proper places. (The goat is still missing, and continues to drive me crazy.) So, instead of putting out all twenty six letters and then trying to hunt them all down every night, I just put out 6- R, S, T, L, N, and M. Tiny and Buba received the phonics magnets last Christmas, so they’ve been playing with these letters for 6-7 months. The magnetic letters go into the holding device, and when pushed, the holding device plays a little song that tells what letter each sound makes.
Anyhow, about a month ago, Buba was sitting on his potty, and he yelled out, “I’m making peeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Tiny immediately starts singing, “P says /t/*. P says /t/. Every letter makes a sound. P says /t/.” (*A letter written between two forward slashes is read as the sound that letter makes.) I was about to attempt to make a teachable moment out of this, when Buba piped in with, “No, no, Tiny. T says /t/.”
I was surprisingly shocked. Did my 2-year-old son just correctly identify a letter and its appropriate sound? I had to find out how far his letter knowledge went, so I took Buba to the fridge and asked him to identify each letter one by one. (i.e. Me: Where’s the letter R? Buba: Right here!) He knew all six of them. I couldn’t believe it! I wondered how long he had known all of these letters and whether or not Tiny knew them as well. I brought Tiny over to the fridge and asked the same questions. She did not answer any of them correctly, but we put each letter into the holding device and listened as it sang the sound for each song. She giggled and jumped and clearly did not care that she did not have the same letter knowledge as her brother. No biggie. That’s what kindergarten is for.
But tonight, I had to laugh as I listened to Tiny sing while I did dressed her in her pajamas: “Cow says moo. Cow says moo. Every letter makes a sound. Cow says mooooooooooo!”
Way Too Loud
It’s funny now, because for so long we worried about Buba and the fact that he didn’t start speaking as early and doesn’t talk as much as his peers seem to. Someone warned me that at some point, his talking would just take off, and we’d wish that he’d stop talking altogether. Well folks, that day has come.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m so proud of Buba and all that he accomplished while working with EI. But lately, it just feels like he’s talking all. the. time. Seriously, his chattering is endless and the volume is just way too loud. Even when he’s standing right next to me and has my full attention.
Most of his talking is commanding (Sit down and read the book! Watch me jump! Milk please!) or questioning (Are you going to work today? What are you making for me?). By far, we seem to hear “What’s that?” the most often, and most of the time, he already knows the answer to his question. For example, he’ll point to a picture of a monkey and say, “What’s that?” Are you kidding me?
Interestingly, Tiny has been a Miss Chatterbox for months, and is equally demanding and full of questions. But speaking at a volume that’s more appropriate for human ears, it just doesn’t seem as bad. If only there was a magical remote control that allowed parents to control the volume of their children’s voices. Oh, how wonderful that would be. I promise that I would never push the mute button. But I wouldn’t think twice about turning Buba’s voice down a few notches. Especially at 6:30am.
Splishin’ and a Splashin’
Last summer, Tiny and Buba went to the swimming pool for the first time ever. They were about 16 months old.
They appear to be enjoying themselves in the above photos, but I remember that it took a while for them to feel comfortable in the kiddie pool. Tiny was so, so scared the first time we tried to take her in and kept freaking out in the bath tub for a while after that experience. By the time they were both comfortable, summer was over and so was the option to spend time at the pool.
I’d hoped that this year would be different. They both love splashing in the bathtub and even love to put their faces in the water and blow bubbles. I kept telling them how they could do this at the kiddie pool, and they would talk about wanting to go. But during our first visit just a week or so ago, Tiny fell forward while trying to walk in the water. I picked her up within nanoseconds, but she was already completely terrified. She cried and cried, which made Buba cry, and both Tiny and Buba wanted out immediately. Interestingly, Tiny decided to go back in with me and was fine as long as I held her in some way (holding hands while walking, sitting on my lap), but Buba refused to go back in. We’ve been two more times since then, and both kids have become increasingly more comfortable in the kiddie pool. They’ve even allowed T and I to take them into the shallow end of the big pool.
Unfortunately, school will be starting in just over two weeks, and our pool days are numbered. I wonder if we’ll have to go through the whole warming up to the pool process again next summer or if by 3 years old they’ll have lost some of the fear that they had last summer and this summer.
What has been your experience with your own kids and pools? Does this all sound very normal? Or could T and I be doing a better job at teaching them to be comfortable in the water? Have your kids already begun to take swimming lessons? And if yes, what has that experience been like for them and for you?
Summer Sale Shopping
We started a new summer tradition the first weekend after T’s school year ended. We didn’t plan for it- it just happened. We were on our way home from washing a fire truck when we saw a huge sign- Yard Sale, 9am-2pm, Tons of kids stuff!
Since that weekend, we’ve spent almost every Saturday morning driving around our area looking for yard sale signs. The kids know and love this activity. They run to put on their shoes after breakfast, and come back to T and I asking “Are we go to a yard sale today?”
Sometimes we buy things, and sometimes we don’t. Mostly we all just love looking and chatting with people, but every now and then we come across a trinket or a gem that is just too good to pass up. Some of the highlights include the two umbrella strollers (like this one) that we bought for $3 each, the $1 doll stroller that Tiny just had to have, the $10 trampoline that both kids bounce around on every day, a brand new, still in the box, toy blender for $5, and a large stack of gently used books (mostly $0.50 each).
This is definitely one of Tiny and Buba’s favorite no cost/low cost activities (right up there with browsing the pet shop). The only downside is that we pick up things that they love, but don’t need. They have have way too many toys and books! Fortunately, my twin club’s fall sale is right around the corner. I plan to sell tons, and buy very little. That should even things out a bit. I hope.
a reanbean week in review
I’ve been having a tough time with blogging lately. I have plenty to write about, but just can’t find the time in all the busyness of summer. So, here are just a few highlights from this week that I don’t want to forget.
Monday: Our week got off to a great start. Both kids were finally completely free of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, and we headed back to our EI playgroup for the first time in two weeks. The last playgroup we had gone to was the first time both Tiny and Buba were able to handle me being gone for the entire 90 minutes. I was hopeful (but nervous) that they’d allow me to leave again this time. And they did (hooray!). No crying from either of them. I’m so glad that we’re able to keep both kids in, even now that Buba is no longer receiving any EI services. Now I just have to come up with things to do while they’re playing without me. Not a bad position to be in.
Tuesday: We all went to a kiddie craft event hosted by the family group of a neighboring town. (We live right on the boarder of this town, so we belong to this family group as well as our own town’s group.) The event was held in one of the member’s backyard. Both Buba and Tiny had a ton of fun making tissue paper butterflies and even more fun playing on the enormous and elaborate play structure in the yard.
Wednesday: T and I took Tiny and Buba to a free tryout gymnastics class at a gymnastics academy about 20 minutes from our house. Tiny loved, loved, LOVED it, and Buba seemed to enjoy it too. As I was buckling Tiny into her car seat, she said, “Can we go back to gymtastics? I want to do more gymtastics please. I love it! I love it!” (I’m not kidding. That is exactly what she said.) We’ll be joining a nine week class this September. Getting Tiny to understand just how many weeks it is until we go back to “gymtastics” has been difficult.
Thursday: Buba and Tiny went to their first playdate in over two weeks. They were so excited to go to their friend’s house to play. They played inside for a bit, and then we headed outside to play with the sand and water table and splash in the kiddie pool. Tiny got to show off her new swimsuit (a short sleeved one piece suit that Grammy got her- I returned the one I didn’t love), and they all seemed to have fun playing between the rain drops under cloudy skies.
Friday: We all headed back to Grandpa’s pool (his town’s pool and tennis club, where he is a lifetime member) for more swimming with Aunt Dee, who is in town from California for the next week or so. Both Buba and Tiny were much more comfortable in the little pool (which varies from roughly 6 to 24 inches of water), and they even went into the shallow end of the big pool for the first time. They loved climbing the steps in and out (and in and out…) of the water, and Aunt Dee began teaching them how to jump into the pool into her arms and how to float on their backs. They’re not pros yet, but it’s a beginning.
All in all, this week rocked! We’re definitely back into our summer groove.
But It’s Still Summer, Isn’t It?
We’ve done almost no swimming this summer. When T’s school let out on June 22nd, we started talking about taking the kids to “Grandpa’s pool” (the pool and tennis club where Grandpa is a lifetime member), but the conditions were never right. It was too cold, Tiny had an owie, it was too hot and way too humid, I was working, the kids were sick- it just never seemed to work out.
But during the two weeks that we suffered through Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, the kids continued to ask about going to Grandpa’s pool. We told them that they couldn’t go until everyone was healthy again. That day finally came on Friday, and so on Saturday, we finally took the kids to Grandpa’s pool for the first time this summer. And this was when I discovered that Tiny’s swimsuit doesn’t really fit.
I bought it back in March- online from The Children’s Place. It was a little big, but not much and I figured she’d grow a bit in the next few months. I liked it because it had short sleeves (better protection from the sun) and ruffles on the butt (just so cute!)
The suit fits okay as long as it’s dry, but as soon as it gets soaked, the bottom part sags. I had to constantly pull the bottom half up so we wouldn’t get kicked out of Grandpa’s pool for indecent exposure. With the California cousins coming into town on Wednesday, I knew we’d be back at the pool several more times this week, so this afternoon we headed off to the mall in search of a new swimsuit for Tiny,
But of course, there are no swimsuits for sale in August. August is for back to school shopping, and the stores have already put out their fall displays- racks of jeans and cords and long sleeved shirts and sweatshirts. I get that some may want a jump on putting together a killer fall wardrobe for those first weeks back in the classroom, but hey, it’s still summer isn’t it?
T and I dragged Tiny and Buba from store to store (The Children’s Place, Sears, Gymboree, Hanna Andersson, Baby Gap, and Macy’s). Only Gymboree and Sears had swimsuits in Tiny’s size (size 12 months!) and that amounted to three options. We ended up buying a pale pink one-piece from Sears (which cost $5 more than the one I bought in March!) that I don’t love, but that work for the next month. After purchasing the suit, we also checked Kohl’s, Carter’s, and the Disney Store, but none of those stores had any suits left either. I was thinking of making a trip up to Target tomorrow morning, but then I had this conversation with Tiny:
r: What do you think of your new swimsuit?
T: It’s good.
r: Do you love it?
T: I love it (said very unenthusiastically). I piddy sure I don’t need anodur one (she said with a tired grin).
I got the message. She doesn’t want to shop anymore. She doesn’t want to try on any more swimsuits. This one will do. However, when we talked to Grammy about our shopping adventure on the phone after dinner tonight, she said she’d check two more places, and I didn’t tell her not too.