Cleaning Day

Nobody gets a free ride at the Bentley's!

You Can Teach An Old Waterdog New Tricks

Today was swimming lesson part deux. Things got off to a rough start when I dropped Harry off at Grandma's and Ollie saw the tractor (AKA tac-to) in the driveway. He just couldn't understand why he couldn't get out to play and take a tractor ride, and really had no interest in staying with me. This meant that he whimpered for 5 minutes as we drove away from Grandma's and was not consoled by my reminding him that we were going back to the pool.

Eventually, he calmed down and unfortunately dozed off before we made it to the Y. Once again, I had to wake him when we arrived, which is not the best way to make a toddler enthusiastic about anything. So, he cried as we walked from the car to the building, and he cried from the door to the locker room, and from the locker room to the pool. What a great way to draw attention to the lady that just wants to blend in to the bathing suit crowd. By the time we met up with Mandy and Macie he calmed down some, but did not appreciate my taking away Pooh so we could prep to get in the water.

Once we were in the pool, the waterdog returned and Ollie was as happy as he could be. I was finally starting to overcome the swimsuit anxiety and was actually able to take in some information at today's lesson. Believe it or not, by utilizing the methods designed for toddlers, I managed to put my nose and mouth underwater multiple times without swallowing 2 gallons or filling up my nose. This is major progress. MAJOR!

Ollie got more and more confident and once again enjoyed jumping from the side into my arms. This biggest advance was managing to go completely underwater without freaking out. He's so much braver than I am! All was going well until the lesson was over and it was time to exit the pool. Once again, we had a crying scene that lasted the entire walk from one end of the pool to the other, into the ladies locker room, all the while we dressed, and even as we walked out the door. I kept trying to tell him that not only was he embarrassing himself, but he was also pulling Mandy and Macie into his drama. I'm not sure why, but my reasoning didn't work and he just got more and more wound up.

Even with Ollie's bad behavior, Mandy and Macie agreed to go to the Tower Park with us for a picnic lunch. I'm pretty sure it was the food that they were interested in, and not the crabby company, but we were thrilled they would be joining us. Macie and Ollie dined in style on the picnic bench, sharing strawberries, cheese, lima beans, pasta salad, and chicken.

After lunch it was time to head towards the playground. By now Ollie was in a good mood, but as usual I managed to knock him over onto the concrete, which caused a few tears. Luckily, he recovered quickly and we were off to play.

First we squeezed them both into the Ladybug of Love. As you can see in the picture, Ollie is secure enough to let Macie drive.

All was well until Ollie got a little frisky...

so Macie jumped ship.

This left Ollie devastated.

Until they reunited on the swings and all was forgiven.

But soon enough Ollie was rubbing his eyes and we had to head home for nap time. I can't wait for next week's lessons. Really, I mean it.

Waterdog

After 4 hours of bathing suit-shopping-torture and 72 hours of stressing about wearing it, swim lesson day finally arrived.

The day started off as usual with both boys sleeping until 7:00, but the anticipation of the upcoming adventure was hanging in the air. Harry went right back to sleep after eating his breakfast, but Ollie was raring to go.

By 10:00 we were packed up and heading to Grammie's to drop Harry off to stay. He didn't even wake up when I put him in his car seat. How could he sleep knowing we were about to go swimming? Probably just little brother jealousy.

We arrived at the YMCA around 10:30 and of course Ollie had fallen asleep. I sat in the car for a few minutes knowing he would be crabby when I woke him, but also knowing I had no choice. So without delay, I grabbed Ollie and our bag and in we went.

Before Ollie was even coherent, we were in the family locker room and I was changing him into a swim diaper and his swimming trunks. This did not make him happy, which made me even more nervous. As usual things were not off to a good start.

Once we were dressed, we found our way to the indoor pool all the while looking for Macie and Mandy. Ollie was whimpering and holding onto my hand for dear life the entire time. Poor little guy is not good with unfamiliar situations.

Thankfully, when we opened the door to the pool we heard Mandy calling our names. We walked over to meet them, but Ollie was so distracted by the pool and the people in and around it, that he couldn't even make time to say hello. As the picture below illustrates, Miss Macie was not completely sure of the whole swimming thing either.

Finally, it was 11:00 and time for the lesson to start. We picked up our little darlings and walked toward the shallow end. As we slowly descended into the water, Ollie was holding on to my neck for dear life. We met our classmates George and Aubrey and then began the process of familiarizing ourselves with the pool. With lots of reassurance, Ollie was starting to relax and let go of the death grip within 3 or 4 minutes.

Slowly he became more and more confident and by the end of the lesson he was jumping (or maybe I should say falling) off the ledge into my arms. He was even starting to kick and move his arms around. This was a good thing until the lesson was over and it was time to exit the pool. My little darling threw a tantrum and cried as we left the pool, kept crying as we walked to the locker room, and cried the entire time we got dressed. Macie didn't know what to think of this crazy behavior and actually called Ollie a baby. She was absolutely correct! Finally when we got to the parking lot, whiny hiney Ollie stopped crying.

As soon as we pulled out of the parking lot, my the little guy started jabbering on. He had so much to say. I was so relieved that we survived the lesson without incident (i.e. dirty diaper, bathing suit falling off, freaking out in the pool...) that I decided to treat Ollie and myself to a nice lunch at Chipotle. This was really tasty, but not a quick meal because Ollie was so distracted by all the lunchers and the traffic in the parking lot and on the highway.

After lunch we were off to Kroger's. I forgot how easy it was to shop with just one child, but we spent way more money with all the extra cart space.

Next, it was back to Grammie's to collect Harry and get both boys home before nap time. Ollie could barely keep his eyes open and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the mattress. I was exhausted too, but for some reason I just didn't have time to take a snooze. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

On a side note, congratulations to my nephew, Jordan, the newest CCHS graduate! Way to go Jordy!