Swim Lessons and Safety Town

It has been quite a busy week for the Eby boys! On Monday Jake started Safety Town and both boys started swim lessons. Grandma Ginger was kind enough to bring the boys half way back to Michigan to meet me after they spent the weekend in Cleveland so they wouldn't miss their first day of classes - and so I didn't have to drive 3 hours Sunday night to Cleveland after coming back from JO Diving Regionals in Philadelphia for the weekend, Thanks again Ginger!

First up was Safety Town for Jake. Jake was already excited for the class, but it got even better when he had 3 of his classmates from DK with him as well. Brenden also wanted very much to be in the class. He was very sad when I told him he needed to be older and he then proceeded to try to convince me that he was 5 so he could stay in Safety Town with his brother. So far this week Jake has learned about swimming, bike, electrical, and bus safety, they even got to ride a school bus around town on Wednesday. He has also been working on memorizing his address and my cell phone number, he's doing really well with it - 3 stickers today! It has brought back a lot of memories for me, I loved safety town when I was kid! It has also been nice to have a couple of hours each day with just Brenden, I forgot how much calmer and quieter he is when Jake isn't around.

Brenden and I pick Jake up at 3pm each day from Safety Town and go directly to Swim Lessons at 3:30pm. They are taking lessons through Dexter Community Education which is where I taught lessons for the first year I was back in Michigan. Believe it or not, this is the first time I have signed the boys up for lessons! I know shame on me for waiting for so long. Part of the reason we waited was because Jake was very against actual swimming and putting his face in the water. He loves playing in the pool, but only on his terms. Knowing how stubborn he can be we figured he would just fight us and the instructors so we decided to wait until he showed more interest and comfort. After buying him some goggles this summer he has turned into a total water baby with much less fear of swimming and exploring the pool. Brenden, on the other hand, has always been comfortable in the water, that is until this summer rolled around. He still loves going to the pool, but is acting more like Jake used to and is now reluctant to put his head in the water, he doesn't like his goggles because he says they're too tight, and he's much more afraid to go in the deeper water even when I'm holding him. So anyway, we thought it would be a good idea to try swim lessons with Jake showing more interest and to try to keep Brenden interested before he gets too afraid.

The lessons have been going good and bad. Jake is doing great, the instructor has already told us that he is ready for the next level and has started him on some of those skills. He is also practicing every time we go to the pool, its very cute to watch his erratic and not so efficient freestyle. Unfortunately Brenden has only been in the water for about 15 minutes total over the first 4 lessons. However, he has at least tried to get in 2 of the days and when he is out he is watching the other children work on their skills. Its pretty clear that Brenden is having most of his issues with being comfortable with his surroundings. He keeps telling me each day that he doesn't want to go in the big pool, but wants to go to our pool - meaning Ann Arbor Country Club where I manage the pool and coach diving. Keep in mind that AACC has a much bigger pool than the high school where the lessons are being taught, but it also has a separate shallow end for the younger ones to play, which is where Brenden spends most of his time. He doesn't seem to mind the teacher, who is very good with the kids, but he his definitely not comfortable when he's in the water at lessons. It became even more clear that it has a lot to do with his surroundings when this afternoon at AACC he started trying some of the skills he was afraid to do at lessons. I'm trying not to push him too much and make him get in the water at lessons because I don't want to take away from the other children's time and I don't want to make him hate swimming. I do think its been good for him to at least be at the lessons and have to watch class each day. This has also been a good opportunity for us to work on communication skills and for him to tell me how he is feeling. I guess I shouldn't have waited so long with Brenden, but it seems to be paying off with Jake.

Here are a few pictures from lessons:

And from at AACC:

DK Graduation

Friday was Graduation Day at Morningstar . They do a family evening with food, music, and games for all the children and their families to enjoy. After the kids have had a chance to play a bit and everyone has eaten, the children put on a show for the families.

Morningstar has rooms for all ages from infant to kindergarten. Each "class" had a song prepared and then the Developmental Kindergarten and Private Kindergarten had a graduation ceremony. Each child got to walk out in their graduation gown and get their diploma from the teachers. Brenden wasn't interested in joining his class. His teacher, Miss Melissa, had him go up with her in hopes he would join, but Brenden was more interested in finding out what Jake was up to and running around some more. Jake was his usual self during the class song. He didn't know all of the words or gestures so he would make funny faces or watch his friends during part of the performance. Here's a video from towards the end:

For the Graduation ceremony, Jake decided to add some theatrics by refusing to get ready with his class because he didn't want to wear the gown. After Chris talked with him a bit and one of his teachers cracked a joke Jake was back in the spirit of things and ready to graduate. The evening was a lot of fun and it was really nice to be able to watch the boys interact with all of their friends. Jake will stay at Morningstar through the summer until he starts Kindergarten at Dexter in the fall. This was Brenden's first year in Pre-school so he will have one more year in Miss Melissa's class before he moves to DK with Miss Heather.

We were able to get some pictures of Jake during the performance and Graduation ceremony, but Brenden managed to escape the camera.

Just a little comparison......

In case you were curious, the above pictures are from this pregnancy and when I was pregnant with Brenden. The first picture is from now at 26 weeks pregnant with Rylan and the second picture is at approximately 28 weeks pregnant with Brenden. It looks like I'm doing about the same with Rylan as I did with Brenden, part of why I was so shocked when they told me it was a girl this time!

100 Days of Summer Countdown(s)!

So Friday May 28th marked my three countdowns for the summer: 100 days until my due date(Sept 5th), 101 days until I close the pool for the season, and 102 days until Jake starts kindergarten. So much to look forward to as we kick the summer off!

Everything seems to be going well with the pregnancy. Even though my due date is nearly 3 months away, I'm not sure Rylan is going to wait that long. For those of you that don't know or don't remember, both boys were born before their due dates. Jake was 10 days ahead of schedule and Brenden was exactly 2 weeks early. Chris told me all through my pregnancy with Brenden that I was two weeks farther along, I guess I should have believed him. This time around, he's telling me I'm a whole month ahead! As for me, I feel like she's going to be early just because of how low she likes to sit in my stomach and how active she is all of the time. I also looked at the boys birthdays and found that they both were born 1-2 days before a full moon. There is a supposed to be a full moon August 24th, so for now my prediction is August 22nd or 23rd, but we'll just have to wait and see.

We've got a full summer planned: Swim lessons for the boys, Safety Town for Jake, 10 days or so in Arizona for Nationals and to visit Mana, and so much more! I'm sure this summer is going to fly by, hopefully we'll be able to enjoy all of it!

Here are a few pictures from 100 days to go!