Swim, Nicholas, Swim!

For the last 6 months, every time we drive past the Y, Nicholas mentions that he is going to take swimming lessons there. But working around his school and Charlotte's nap schedules, it's taken a while to make it happen. His first lesson was today.

Sitting with his classmates - "bums on the bump". (The teacher had to explain to the kids what bums were)

Waiting for the big moment to jump in

He told me later that in this picture he is floating and relaxing

He was wearing a completely inappropriate swimsuit with floaties built into it. Because of that, he was almost vertical the whole time he was in the water. So when he had to, for example, toss a ball in and then jump in and swim to it, his little legs were going as fast as they could, but he didn't make much forward progress. To the credit of his legs o' muscle, he managed to swim back and forth across the pool several times during his lesson despite his suit. Next week his mother will send him with a regular swim suit. I'm sure she was just concerned since this was his first non-parent attended swim class. Any mother would be.

Makes Perfect Sense

Four-year-olds have a way of saying things that really makes you think, why don't we all say that? This one comes up all the time:

Me - "Nicholas, what do we do with the vacation bed (his kid-sized AeroBed) when we want to put it away?"

Nicholas - "Blow it down."

Works for me!

"Fish"

I gave Charlotte some tuna salad for lunch today. For whatever reason I called it fish instead of tuna. I couldn't actually remember if she'd had fish before, but figured I'd just go with the generic "fish". She nodded that she wanted some....then immediately spat it out. That is not uncommon. She'll often do that with the first bite, then want more. Not this time. Then later today at Target we saw some Goldfish crackers and she pointed and said "Sh! Sh!" (her way of saying 'fish') It was then that I realized that when I offered "fish", she was thinking cheesy cracker deliciousness...not tuna salad. Serves me right for not just calling it tuna!

Nicholas Goes Pro

In Wii Bowling, that is. He's very excited because it means he gets a special ball. I find it amusing that of all the Wii sports he plays (baseball, tennis, golf and bowling), the one that he's the best at is bowling...the only one of the four that he's never played in real life. We're going to have to take that boy to the bowling alley!

You Sunk My Battleship!

In an attempt to entertain our dear son during the cold days when he can't play outside, we've whipped out some probably-too-old-for-him games. He has a new favorite -

He continues to amaze us with how much patience and determination he has. Pretty soon he'll be beating us at Battleship fair and square!

Gpa and Gma King's Christmas Tour Comes to St Louis

Tom's parents made a huge trip this Christmas with stops in Albuquerque to see Tom's brother and his family, Orange City, IA to see Tom's grandma and other relatives, Minnesota to see Tom's uncle and cousins, and finally down here to St Louis before heading home to Tucson. Did I mention they were driving?? We were so happy to see them (we've been spoiled by lots of time with them the last few months) and extend our Christmas celebrations a few more days!

Presents, presents and more presents. I like how Nicholas is patiently waiting while Charlotte opens her bag.

Nicholas got his very own batting helmet and gloves. He broke them in over the next few days with lots of ball playing.

That boy never tires of going on bike rides

Some serious Connect-4 games were played. Grandma introduced us to the concept of a "Cat's Game", which none of us had ever heard of, but which apparently means a game that ends in a tie or with no winner. Nicholas took this to mean anytime the Connect 4 grid was completely filled up, even if there were connect 4's everywhere. He'd sit there and drop checkers into the game as fast as he could (in a room by himself, mind you) and we'd hear him yell - "Cat's Game!".

Hanging out with Grandpa, eating taquitos, watching USC demolish Penn State at the Rose Bowl. Go Trojans!

Grandma was there too...I just don't have any pictures of her! It was a very special visit, and we hope to see them again very soon!

A Use for New Tooth #6

While watching USC play in the Rose Bowl, we went a little crazy with the food that we allowed in the family room. (We even had to have a half-time vacuuming session) Nicholas ate 7 or 8 taquitos. We let Charlotte have her second Peppermint Jo-Jo. But to keep the mess to a minimum, we strapped her down to the booster chair and put her on the leather couch. She loved it and didn't even mind the post-cookie cleanup! Tom was in awe of the mess that could be made by one girl with one cookie. I'll try and get a picture of the new tooth soon. She now has 4 top and 2 bottom teeth.