Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Swim Lessons.


These past two weeks, Nathan's been in swim lessons at one of the city's pool and water parks. He really had fun with it-- and while he doesn't really swim yet, he's gotten much better at just getting into and being in the water.  This first session was a parent/child class where they pretty much play games and sing songs with this kids, just to get them acclimated to the water.
Before his swim lesson started-- he was so excited, and pretty nervous too!



I told him to give me a thumbs up if he was having fun. :)

He loved going to his lessons! They were Monday through Thursday from 11:30am-12:00pm each day. And with the summer heat, the cool water felt nice!
Nathan was a little unsure at first, but once he got into the routine of his lessons, he was much more comfortable.

First, we take off our sandals, then sit on the side of the pool with our feet in the water.  Then, mom gets in the water and brings him in, too. Then it's just a simple routine:

-Wash our faces. (Getting our hands wet and wiping off our faces. This was seriously hard for N to do-- he doesn't like having his face wet!)
-Play motorboat three times. (Motorboat, motorboat, go so slooow. Motorboat, motorboat, go so fast!... etc.)
-Practice blowing bubbles in the water.
-Practice using your bubbles to move a ping pong ball around in the water.
-Climb along the edge of the pool ("Monkey walk").
-Play "Pop Goes the Weasel." This was the next hardest thing for N.  At the end, when you say, "Pop goes the weasel," you're supposed to splash. N does not like splashing or getting splashed. Some of the other kids thought this was the best part of the whole lesson and were a little over-enthusiastic about it-- and somehow we always managed to be next to a great splasher. At one point he was like, "HEY guys!! Please stop! Guyyys!"
-Practice our back floats. (Floating on your back.) N had to rest his head on my shoulder, and I held him from underneath his armpits.  Having my shoulder to rest on really helped him feel like he was still being supported. It was just pretty sunny to be looking up at the bright sky.
-Get a colored noodle and practice kicking from the wall to the lane line.
-Get a colored ring and practice climbing out of the pool to get it.  When jumping back in, they had to yell out, "One, two, three, JUMP!" This is actually a safety precaution to get them in the habit of saying that anytime they jump into any water. That way if you're in the kitchen doing dishes and you hear your kid in the backyard say, "One, two, three, jump!" You at least have those three seconds as a warning-- rather than being totally oblivious that your kid is drowning in a pool. Makes sense to me!
-Take the pool ring and use it as a prop in singing "The Wheels on the Bus" as a group. N's favorite part was, "The people on the bus go UP and DOWN, UP and DOWN, UP and DOWN!" (I'd lift him up in the air on that part-- so cool for a two year old.)
-A couple minutes to practice anything you'd like, and then CLEAN UP! On more than one occasion Nathan would start singing the "Clean up" song that they sing in Nursery each week. :)

And that was it! He LOVED it!

On Saturday, we drove passed the water park that he had his lessons at, except it was like, 7pm or so, but he still saw the big water slide.
"{Gasp!} We going to swim lessons?!"
"No sweetie, our swim lessons are over now."
"Yeah! We do go to swim lessons!"
"Well, did you bring your swim suit?"
"My swim suit? {Gasp!} We forgot! That's okay, Mommy, we can go get it, and then come to swim lessons!"
"Oh, really? Maybe another day... Nathan, do you want to have swim lessons with a new teacher? (Referring to signing him up for another session.)"
"A new teacher??? Noooo (shaking his head).. I want to have swim lessons with Ryan (his old teacher)! Because Ryan is my friend!"  Cute.
(And, just because it's funny-- for the first few days of lessons, N totally thought his teacher's name was Rhino. And called him that, often.)

Monday, June 18, 2012

Nathan's Bedtime Routine.


The other day, Nathan was supposed to go to his bookshelf to choose a couple books to read before bed-- a few minutes later I went to check on him to see what happened, since he never came back. Sure enough, he was fast asleep right in front of his bookshelf.  I guess choosing books proved to be far too strenuous! 

I was trying to get pictures without waking him up.  I just love a sleeping baby!
He's pretty cute, isn't he?

Also, I thought I'd share Nathan's bedtime routine-- just because I think it's funny. :) 
We've been trying to get into a good routine for a while now, but I didn't realize just how committed Nathan would get to the EXACT routine.  Here goes:

1. Get his pajamas from his bottom drawer-- he only ever wants to wear his "blue shorts with dinosaur shirt" (his pajamas in the pictures above). 
2, Change into his pajamas while in his room.  One time I tried to get him to change in the bathroom-- no way, we had to go back to his room to change.
3. Go to the bathroom and brush "the bad guys off his teeth." {A while back I used this technique to get him to brush his teeth-- the idea that there were bad guys on his teeth that would eat his teeth, if he didn't brush them off. And then he would wake up in the morning with no teeth! And then he would want to eat corn on the cob and he couldn't because he didn't have any teeth anymore. It worked wonders-- equal parts of dislike for bad guys and love for corn on the cob.}
4. After brushing his teeth, he rinses his mouth twice (exactly) and after spitting out the water he says, "No bad guys for me!" After rinsing twice, he then takes a sip of the remaining water and drinks it. Always. He then asks for the brown hand towel to dry off his mouth. 
5. He goes to the bathroom one last time before bed time and then goes to his room to get his book for bedtime.
6. We read a Mickey Mouse book called Colors, Colors Everywhere. It's about Mickey, Goofy, and Mickey's nephews learning about how colors mix, as they paint Mickey's house together. And I could tell you the story word for word anytime, anywhere.  It's the only book he's wanted to read at bedtime for about a month straight.
7. After the book is over, Nathan gets Freddy and we all kneel by N's bed to say our night time prayers. If it's up to N, it's usually something like this, "Hebenly Pader, thank thank this day. Bless we go to sleep. Bless the family. Aim ma Jesus Christ, amen." Usually I interrupt to make sure he elaborates a little bit, but that's the general skeleton of his prayers.
8. Then F has to leave, and close the door on the way out.  
9. Nathan turns on his soccer ball night light, and then uses his little step to turn off his light.

In that order. Every. single. night. (Except bath nights-- then the beginning starts out a little different, but not by much!)

This kid is so into routines, it's hilarious! The next step for us is to teach him time, or at least what time is bedtime-- that way we can get better at going to bed at the same time each night. :)