Lily's final swimming lesson was on Friday last week... I held my breath and prepared myself for yet another crying / screaming lesson, but I was rather pleasantly surprised! Typically, it would be the last lesson for the year that Lily would cooperate and actually enjoy herself, but at least it was a positive outcome! She happily went to the teacher, kicked her legs, blew bubbles and did as she was told. I've now committed to more swimming lessons twice a week in January so fingers crossed she continues on this positive path.
In the mean time, we are swimming with her at home and she is a lot more confident. She happily kicks, jumps to us from the steps and even attempted floating on her back yesterday. So hopefully the summer swimming at home will also prepare her for her upcoming January lessons. My aim is to have a toddler who knows pool safety and is capable of getting herself out of any dangerous situations around water. It is a phobia of mine that something could happen to my children around swimming pools, so all things going well, this phobia can be put to rest when Lily is officially swimming on her own.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Crawling!
On the 17th December, 5 days after Zac turned 8 months old, Zac started crawling! Yes, he was mobile before, rolling and sliding about, but he officially started crawling on all fours, correctly (read "no leopard crawling), on the 17th. So we now have another mobile person in our household and I have no doubt that times are about to become a lot busier!
Thursday, December 13, 2012
8 months old
My precious little angel turned 8 months old yesterday and is really becoming a cute little "person" now. He knows what he wants, shows that he wants it and insists on it too; he is getting heavier in my arms; he is growing his first little tooth and he is leopard crawling to get to where he wants to go.
Sleep is still okay, some good nights and others not so great. Last night was an average night where he woke up at 2am for a feed and then 5:20am again, however, he didn't want to go back to sleep so that's when our day started *insert yawning face here*! The night before last was horrendous with almost hourly wake up calls - extremely exhausting! I can only put it down to teething... I suppose I will never know the reason for the consistently interrupted night's sleep.
Zac is on the move and is never in the same spot I leave him on. He is so eager to crawl, but for now all he is managing is the famous leopard crawl his sister mastered for quite some time. I know he is keen to pull himself up but unfortunately we don't have any pieces of furniture low enough for him to accomplish this goal. We have in fact just lowered his cot to the next lower level as when seated, he was pulling himself up against the side of the cot; a very easy position to actually go over and fall out of the thing! So prevention was key and we quickly altered the setting.
Zac continues to fill our lives with so much joy. Still such a smiley, happy, giggly little chap who is easy going and just generally happy. I don't think it is possible to love him more! xxx
Sleep is still okay, some good nights and others not so great. Last night was an average night where he woke up at 2am for a feed and then 5:20am again, however, he didn't want to go back to sleep so that's when our day started *insert yawning face here*! The night before last was horrendous with almost hourly wake up calls - extremely exhausting! I can only put it down to teething... I suppose I will never know the reason for the consistently interrupted night's sleep.
Zac is on the move and is never in the same spot I leave him on. He is so eager to crawl, but for now all he is managing is the famous leopard crawl his sister mastered for quite some time. I know he is keen to pull himself up but unfortunately we don't have any pieces of furniture low enough for him to accomplish this goal. We have in fact just lowered his cot to the next lower level as when seated, he was pulling himself up against the side of the cot; a very easy position to actually go over and fall out of the thing! So prevention was key and we quickly altered the setting.
Zac continues to fill our lives with so much joy. Still such a smiley, happy, giggly little chap who is easy going and just generally happy. I don't think it is possible to love him more! xxx
Monday, December 10, 2012
1st little tooth!
With Lily only sprouting her first tooth a couple of days before her 1st birthday, I wasn't expecting Zac to produce any pearly whites before that time either, but while we were out and about this last weekend, I noticed that Zac has just cut his first little bottom tooth! At just 4 days short of his 8 month "birthday", my little angel officially has his first tooth!!! Wonder when the second one will appear and how he is going to look without his gummy smile... Only time will tell xxx
Friday, December 7, 2012
Swimming update
My little angel was doing so well and really made me so proud seeing that I didn't quite have the confidence that she would venture off with the swimming teacher away from the safety of the shallow step. She happily held Teacher Saskia's neck and kicked her little legs with a proud smile stretched across her adorable little face... That was until it was time to put her face under the water (or be lightly dunked under the water I should say)! After that, it was all downhill - tears, loud cries and getting out of the pool, quite adamant that she didn't want to get back in!
Now my little angel, whose confidence in the water was growing, is a little more cautious and reluctant to venture too far into the pool again. She wasn't put under water today though so hopefully we can get back to where we were. But for now she is reluctantly going into the deeper water with her arms firmly around Saskia's neck, kicking just slightly and is very much more secure in the safety of the baby step... Week one is done and we have one week left. Fingers crossed we can get her used to getting her little face wet and a little more confident in the water on a whole.
Now my little angel, whose confidence in the water was growing, is a little more cautious and reluctant to venture too far into the pool again. She wasn't put under water today though so hopefully we can get back to where we were. But for now she is reluctantly going into the deeper water with her arms firmly around Saskia's neck, kicking just slightly and is very much more secure in the safety of the baby step... Week one is done and we have one week left. Fingers crossed we can get her used to getting her little face wet and a little more confident in the water on a whole.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
20 things a mom should tell her son...
1. Play a sport.
It will teach you how to win honorably, lose gracefully, respect authority, work with others, manage your time and stay out of trouble. And maybe even throw or catch.
2. You will set the tone for the sexual relationship, so don't take something away from her that you can't give back.
3. Use careful aim when you pee.
Somebody's got to clean that up, you know.
4. Save money when you're young
because you're going to need it someday.
5. Allow me to introduce you to the dishwasher, oven, washing machine, iron, vacuum, mop and broom. Now please go use them.
6. Pray and be a spiritual leader.
7. Don't ever be a bully and don't ever start a fight, but if some idiot clocks you, please defend yourself.
8. Your knowledge and education is something that nobody can take away from you.
9. Treat women kindly.
Forever is a long time to live alone and it's even longer to live with somebody who hates your guts.
10. Take pride in your appearance.
11. Be strong and tender at the same time.
12. A woman can do everything that you can do.
This includes her having a successful career and you changing diapers at 3 A.M. Mutual respect is the key to a good relationship.
13. "Yes ma'am" and "yes sir" still go a long way.
14. The reason that they're called "private parts" is because they're "private". Please do not scratch them in public.
15. Peer pressure is a scary thing.
Be a good leader and others will follow.
16. Bringing her flowers for no reason is always a good idea.
17. It is better to be kind than to be right.
18. A sense of humor goes a long way in the healing process.
19. Please choose your spouse wisely.
My daughter-in-law will be the gatekeeper for me spending time with you and my grandchildren.
20. Remember to call your mother because I might be missing you.
It will teach you how to win honorably, lose gracefully, respect authority, work with others, manage your time and stay out of trouble. And maybe even throw or catch.
2. You will set the tone for the sexual relationship, so don't take something away from her that you can't give back.
3. Use careful aim when you pee.
Somebody's got to clean that up, you know.
4. Save money when you're young
because you're going to need it someday.
5. Allow me to introduce you to the dishwasher, oven, washing machine, iron, vacuum, mop and broom. Now please go use them.
6. Pray and be a spiritual leader.
7. Don't ever be a bully and don't ever start a fight, but if some idiot clocks you, please defend yourself.
8. Your knowledge and education is something that nobody can take away from you.
9. Treat women kindly.
Forever is a long time to live alone and it's even longer to live with somebody who hates your guts.
10. Take pride in your appearance.
11. Be strong and tender at the same time.
12. A woman can do everything that you can do.
This includes her having a successful career and you changing diapers at 3 A.M. Mutual respect is the key to a good relationship.
13. "Yes ma'am" and "yes sir" still go a long way.
14. The reason that they're called "private parts" is because they're "private". Please do not scratch them in public.
15. Peer pressure is a scary thing.
Be a good leader and others will follow.
16. Bringing her flowers for no reason is always a good idea.
17. It is better to be kind than to be right.
18. A sense of humor goes a long way in the healing process.
19. Please choose your spouse wisely.
My daughter-in-law will be the gatekeeper for me spending time with you and my grandchildren.
20. Remember to call your mother because I might be missing you.
What's going on?
My dear little angel boy, who is only full of smiles and cute giggles the majority of the time, is suddenly really giving this mom a tough time when it comes to sleep. Prior to a few weeks ago my nights would look similar to the following:
I truly hope that this is just a phase and a very short lived one at that!!!
- 7pm / 7:30pm - sleep
- For some unknown reason, about an hour later I'd get a wake up call but a minute's rocking would get him back to sleep fairly easily.
- 2am / 3am - wake up for a feed
- 5am / 6am - start the day
- 7pm - sleep
- 7:30pm - woke up / rocked back to sleep within 5 minutes
- 8pm - woke up again, but could not get him back to sleep! Sat with him for what seemed like forever! Put him down a few times only for him to wake up and cry and I'd have to start the whole rocking procedure all over again to get him back to sleep!
- 9:35 - EVENTUALLY back to sleep!
- 2am - wake up for a feed
- 4:40am - another feed
- 5:45am - start the day
I truly hope that this is just a phase and a very short lived one at that!!!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Swimming lessons... again
After halting swimming lessons when Lily was much younger due to the winter months and this nervous first-time mom not wanting her baby to get ill, it has now dawned on me that my child needs to learn how to swim. It is my absolute worst fear that something should happen to any of my children around water. So I have started an intensive 10 day swimming course with our Lily Pie with today being our first lesson...
Naturally Lily has lost all notion of what it is to swim, be dunked under water and float about from her earlier lessons when she was 8-12 months old. With her being a little shy of new people I wasn't anticipating great things from her first lesson, but I have to admit, she pleasantly surprised me. She eagerly entered the heated pool with her little friend Matthew and teacher Saskia and was happy to play about in the step area while mommy watched from the sidelines. However, as expected, she was having none of going into the water with Saskia. She was quite happy to kick about on the step, blow bubbles and play with the toys. Only once, on Saskia's persistence, did she actually go into the pool being held by Saskia all the while telling her that she wanted to be returned to the safety of the step!
I hope and pray that this R750 tend day course proves worth while and that she eventually gains confidence to go to the teacher and venture into the deeper end of the pool. For now the step is her best friend and I don't see her eagerly venturing any further. Carol, the swimming school owner, believes that it will take another lesson or two and she will be fine. Somehow I'm not as convinced knowing how determined and strong willed my little princess can be. We shall see...
Naturally Lily has lost all notion of what it is to swim, be dunked under water and float about from her earlier lessons when she was 8-12 months old. With her being a little shy of new people I wasn't anticipating great things from her first lesson, but I have to admit, she pleasantly surprised me. She eagerly entered the heated pool with her little friend Matthew and teacher Saskia and was happy to play about in the step area while mommy watched from the sidelines. However, as expected, she was having none of going into the water with Saskia. She was quite happy to kick about on the step, blow bubbles and play with the toys. Only once, on Saskia's persistence, did she actually go into the pool being held by Saskia all the while telling her that she wanted to be returned to the safety of the step!
I hope and pray that this R750 tend day course proves worth while and that she eventually gains confidence to go to the teacher and venture into the deeper end of the pool. For now the step is her best friend and I don't see her eagerly venturing any further. Carol, the swimming school owner, believes that it will take another lesson or two and she will be fine. Somehow I'm not as convinced knowing how determined and strong willed my little princess can be. We shall see...
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| Lily & her little friend Matthew with Teacher Saskia |
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