TJ's Crib: 10 Hours

I caved to swimming lessons. Since soccer did not go nearly as I thought it would, I was very hesitant to have TJ do swimming lessons and I dismissed the idea of it several times – mostly because it was a daily thing. Only half an hour, but daily nonetheless. But when TJ said he really wanted to do it, I ok’d it on the condition that it was Poppy’s deal. (Poppy is my dad for those of you who don't know.) My boy and I are pretty attached and I knew that if I was the one in the water with him, he’d cling and then not learn a thing...leaving both of us frustrated. We're lucky in that TJ has a great relationship with everyone in our families and Poppy is definitely no exception. So on the first day of lessons, I was giddy inside just waiting to hear the details. Being mostly sure I'd be 100% correct in the outcome. Ha! The results of the first week and a half of lessons are unbelievable to me. I did a sneaky mom thing and hid behind the brick wall for the first few days of lessons. It was crazy cool how TJ took to his teacher, Miss Pattie. She’s a nice woman, but not overly kind and sweet. She doesn’t coddle. She teaches and expects things of her little learners. And boy did TJ love that. He’s learned Superman arms and airplane or “T” arms. He’s learned how to talk to the fish. Then listen to the fish. He’s now floating and learned to crawl stroke – “like a digger”, he says! I’m amazed and thrilled. Our boy is learning to swim, and he loves it!

So why am I calling this blog "10 Hours"? Well, I'm glad you asked. Poppy has picked up TJ at 9:15 every morning these nearly 2 weeks, and brings him back around 10:15. That makes 10 hours of guilt-free (because TJ is doing something productive and I didn't have to ask for a sitter or family member to watch him) time to do what I want! I've run each morning instead of having to wait until night time to do it - which is especially sweet on days I'm in the office. Usually I don't get my runs in those days until 9 or 10pm. Anyhow, each day I've made it up to the pool and watched a bit too. I can hardly tear myself away from watching that boy. You should have seen him TODAY! He was the only one in the class to follow directions and listen to Miss Pattie when it was time to do the song and review of what they learned. It's so fun to watch him from behind - he's got the cutest little back (a little fuzzy, like a chick, hehee!) and I want to pinch his little brown neck. Oh - what fun! I'll have pictures soon of Poppy and TJ at his final day of lessons Friday.

For now, I'm posting some of Pirate T with his parrot and treasure map. We did a little hot-n-cold treasure hunt the other day. Arrrgh, Matey!