Fuzzy Love

Swim Class

Liam and Olivia have been taking swim classes for the past three weeks. Olivia is in a Parent-Tot class (obviously), but Liam has been in honest-to-god real-life swim class. Mark was excited about the lessons and three-year-olds were accepted, so off Liam went. Unfortunately, he didn't pass his first try, but we didn't really expect him too; the other kids in the class were at least a year older. After we registered I heard that swim classes aren't really effective until kids are four years old so oh well. At least he's having a lot of fun.

And the amazing thing is that Liam did a great job. He kicks, he blows bubbles, he floats (with the teacher's help, but he's relaxed out there). The only thing holding him back was his reluctance to dunk his head under water. Since one of the criterion for moving up to the next class is "retrieve object from bottom of pool," he can't move on. No big deal; there's lots of time for this. And he's much more comfortable around the water now. As a bonus, he's learning to listen to his teacher (a girl of perhaps sixteen) without a parent around and that's a first for him.

I have to admit, the first class was a bit of a disaster. Liam cooperated with the teacher when she was working with him, but there were four other kids needing attention - the teacher works with them one at a time while the rest just sit on the side and wait (and splash each other). When eyes were off Liam, he'd leave. See the lifeguard behind them? That first day the lifeguard didn't sit down much. I thought it was horrible, but the teacher-girl said he wasn't the worst she'd seen (nice to know) and we should give the class another try. Thank goodness the next time he stayed in the pool.

And he's come a long way; the first class he didn't want to jump in the pool (even when caught by the teacher) and wouldn't lie on his back (while supported). So he'll continue the lessons all summer long and we'll see where he is at the end. Then he'll just have to take them all again next year, I'm sure.

At the same time as Liam's class, Olivia and Mark are across the pool at the Parent-Tot class. And Olivia is a fish. She has none of the fear that some of the older "tots" have, but then she's younger and I suppose she has no clue that there's anything to be afraid of. The cute thing is that Mark thinks she's a born swimmer. When they're out in the water (I watch from the side) he's always pointing to her and mouthing to me with great excitement, "Watch this!" I have to admit, she's a born kicker but then she kicks all the time, even when she's lying on the carpet.

Well, must get packing. Tomorrow we're off to the Scotia again.

Proving Me Wrong

I swear, I don't know anything about my kids. Sure, I know that Liam loves pretzels and wants a puppy and that Olivia loves Cheerios and gives wet kisses, but honestly I can not predict their behavior at all. Every time I get a little bit of confidence (well, smug) in that area, they go out of their ways to prove me wrong.

Like today. We went to the pool today, even though I was dreading it and almost canceled. Liam was up too late last night (no idea why - he was reading when I left him and surprised Mark and I by still being awake an hour later) and too early this morning (because of Olivia's teeth). So he crawled into bed with us at sixish and was quite grumpy, telling Mark to be quiet and throwing a complete fit when Fuzz touched him with a claw (no mark). I thought the pool would be a disaster, not just because of his mood, but because of the general possessiveness he's shown lately. I think it's all because Olivia is really moving now and, therefore, touching his stuff, but the last time we went to the pool we had to leave because Liam got into tug-of-wars over toys with parents two times. Of course those toys didn't belong to him, but he insisted that they did and wouldn't give them back to their proper owners. After the first incident I gave him a warning. After the second, a time out. After the third (this time interrupted before a tug-of-war), I packed everything up and we went home,* Liam screaming and crying the whole way out. One of my proudest parenting moments, let me tell you.

So, like I said, I was dreading taking an overtired Liam to the pool today. We did have a serious talk about sharing on the way there, but we've had those talks before. Something must have worked though, because today he was a dream. He asked before using other kids' toys. He gave toys back. He packed up and left without a fight when I said it was time to go. He was a perfect angel (other than some throwing of water, but that's a different problem). I was very proud.

But Olivia was in on it too. She was sleepy at the pool (having been up early) and therefore cranky. When we assumed the rock-to-sleep position she was out like a light. Tiffany, who was also there today, suggested that I put Olivia down so that she'd sleep in her stroller I immediately responded, perhaps a bit smugly, "Oh no, she'll never stay asleep if I put her down there. She'll only sleep in her crib." Well, of course when I put her down she slept for an hour.

Then, when we got home after the pool, Liam suggested, "Let's call Karwi!" Well, she did just bring him all those toys, so of course he wants her to come again, right? Wrong. When I asked, "Why, so that she'll bring you some more toys?" he replied, "No, fwies!" So I guess Wendy's wins out over Toys R Us with this kid.

And one last surprise. You'd think I'd learn, but I did it again. Liam, Olivia, and I read some books before Liam's nap time. I was giving him a kiss and a hug, leaving him curled up with another book and feeling a bit smug about how cooperative a sleeper he is now, when he announced, "Mommy, dere's a hair in my mouf!" and promptly threw up all over himself.

Today's lesson: smugness never goes unpunished.

*Although it is often threatened, no parent ever wants to really pack up their kid and go home. It is just too much work to get to the pool to want to leave early. But, when the level of embarrassment is greater than the level of inconvenience, it's time to go.

Christmas in June

Mark had a nice Father's Day. He got to sleep in, drink good beer, hang out at the pool, and nap all afternoon, so if that's not a good day in Mark's book I don't know what is. Liam had gone back to Home Depot (with me, of course) and prepared the above toolbox, which we painted for Mark's present. It's rainbowy on one side and beachy on the other side, and I'm not sure what that will tell people about Mark when he puts tools in it.

I think it's beautiful. Mark got a couple of other presents too,* and he had a nice day (not a perfect day, as teething issues, small tantrums, and his pager got in the way of that, but a good day). Mark and I had a moment dreaming of the Father/Mother's day that we can take completely off (from chores, not kids), but right now our kids are too much work for one person. Oh well.

But Christmas in June came today, not yesterday. My friend Kari is moving far, far away to Ohio (sad for us, nice for Ohio) and is therefore cleaning house. Her boy is quite a bit older than Liam and, as she was packing away his old toys, she was sweet (yes, Kari, you were sweet) enough to think of Liam. So today she came by for lunch and brought Liam bags of really cool toys. And the biggest hit:

A puppet theater! Along with that scary dragon puppet and another cute dragon puppet. I'm not sure Liam knew quite what it was for until after Kari left and I started telling a story in there. Then it clicked. After all, Liam spends a good portion of each day making his toys talk to one another and, in the theater, other people would be watching him. Within minutes I was kicked out and he was telling story after story (all of which involved a dragon going, "ROOOOAAARRRRRRR!" and sometimes also eating a small boy).

She also brought some puzzles, a racing track with battery-operated car (and you know that was a hit), an expanding ball thingy, some crafty things, a large pointy plastic dragon that Liam napped with, and a building set called Bonz.

What a fantastic day we've had with all these things. Thank you Kari.

* I love the card I got Mark. On the outside it said something like, "Happy Father's Day from me and the kids. Speaking of the kids..." and on the inside, "we have plenty. Get away from me." I think I found it funnier than Mark did.

Interesting

Today I checked in on the site referrers for Fuzzy Love and found some interesting searches that lead people to this site. I wonder if the searchers found what they were looking for?

Contractions in the night - Okay, so that one isn't so weird for this site.

Fuzzy armpit - What? Why? I hope that person was disappointed.

"Boys have to wear tights" - I'm sorry Liam, but that's in there word for word.

infant poo after each meal - Well, not exactly, but I have written all those words before I guess. But if you Google that phrase, we're number one! Go infant poo!

L'artiste

With some of his birthday money we got Liam a painting set. He's asked every day for a week for paints (of course, he's also asked for a puppy every day, so it's nice to be able to fulfill one request). It's been a while since he's had any and, on the odd occasion that painting has been required, he's used my acrylics. So today we went to the best store in the universe and got the best painting set in the universe. The paint comes like this:

But we soon moved it into fantastic spill-proof, one-paintbrush-at-a-time, color-coded, screw-on-topped cups. Add in some matching paintbrushes and voila: the perfect painting system for three-year-olds:

The colors never get mixed up! And the tops close so the paint stays in there forever and the big pint containers only come out for fill-ups. It was the most stress-free painting session ever.

Sure I had to clean ten paintbrushes at the end, but that was no big deal. Of course Liam loved it. He's working on a series; above is "Rainbow" and below is "Rainbow Again."

Rainbows use up all the colors, you see. He finished up with a formal portrait of Olivia. It's entitled "Olivia in Brown" or "Brown Aweeya."

Tonight's Bedtime Conversation

The scene: It is bedtime, Liam and I have finished reading books, and we are having a little cuddle before he goes to sleep.

Me (quietly): You are my sweet boy.
Liam (also quietly): You are my sweet goyle.
Me (smiling): I love you so much.
Liam (sleepily): I love you so much too.
Me: You are the best boy in the whole world.
Liam: You are the best goyle in de whole woyld.
Me (grinning - how long will he keep this up?): You make me soooo happy.
Liam (eyes shut now): Yeth.

Scootin'

Odd

The scene: I'm going through the Starbucks drive through to get a mocha frappachino since there were almost record-setting highs yesterday (high nineties). Of course I'm in the minivan and of course Liam and Olivia are in the back seat. As the very young (school is out for the summer) Starbucks employee hands me my drink, we have the following conversation:

Him: So, are you just hanging out with the kids today...or are you with them every day?
Me (smile): Ohhh, I'm with them every day.
Him (all excited): Oh yeah? Are you a stay-at-home mom?
Me: Yup.
Him (really excited now and seemingly sincere): Oh wow, that is so cool. So cool.
Me (lamely): Yeah. It is.

So is he a little ultra-conservative that thinks women belong in the home? Or does he just miss his mom? Or what?

Making Fings

I am officially the mother of a preschooler. Do you know what that is? It's our "Making Fings" box and it's full of paper towel rolls and egg cartons and icing containers and little boxes and whatever we think could be turned into something else. Unfortunately, right now this box stays in the kitchen and it looks like a pile of garbage, but oh well. I've then supplemented this box with some crafting essentials: pom poms, pipe cleaners, glue sticks, hole punches, glitter, googly eyes, and stuff like that. And of course he has lots of crayons, markers, and paint. So far we've made a bunch of things (I take pictures of them all so that I don't feel guilty if they get thrown out at some point). Like this ant:

No, he didn't make it all by himself, but he did almost all of it. I did cut out the egg carton and punched the holes for the legs and antennae. He did the eyes and nose. And the little bottle cap helmet was all Liam (this ant takes the short bus). But the important part is that he had the idea for the ant: he looked at the egg carton and thought "ant!" and that's the creativity I'm trying to foster.

That's a pipe cleaner dinosaur, in case you can't tell. Okay, that came from a book. But we've also done faces on rocks (with yarn hair), a water bottle submarine, and an egg carton spider (that looks a lot like the ant, only with four eyes). We work together, with me helping when he asks or when something pointy is involved. But it's great, because you know how much kids this age love to make things with you, whatever those things might be.

Since we've been doing this, I've gotten almost every kid's crafting book out of the library. Most of them aren't very exciting, but we really liked these:

• The Storytime Craft Book by Kathy Ross - this one is perfect for three-year-olds.
• FamilyFun Crafts - FamilyFun magazine has a series of books out with great ideas in them. There is definately a large age range in here, but we found lots of things that we could do together. As long as they have input and help, I think the key with little kids is that a finished result can't take too long.
• The Muppets Big Book of Crafts by the Muppet Workshop - I almost didn't pick this one up, but it is by far my favorite. Many of them are very elaborate crafts that are suitable for older children and they look like things Jim Henson would have made. Unfortunately, this book is out of print, but I'm going to look for a used copy (I have time; it's really too old for Liam).

Big Bug Catch and Release

We found a big bug on the wall in our kitchen tonight and Liam wanted to catch it. Not just catch it, actually, but keep it. Yikes, I don't even like looking at the picture; it was BIG.

It was about an inch long, or maybe a bit less. But please, can someone who knows about these things tell me that it's not a cockroach? Eeeeew, I hate that picture.

So, I'm not into bugs. But Liam is and, since he got a bug-catching kit for his birthday, I'm around bugs more than I'd like, but it's all for him (talk about a mother's love). Tonight that bug was on the wall and Mark was off putting Olivia to bed. Liam was so excited; he ran and got his butterfly net and his bug cage and was ready to go: "Get dat bug, Mommy!" He was willing to catch it, but I know beetles can fly and if that thing so much as moved I knew I would scream like a little girl. So I wouldn't let him get it and therefore he thought I wanted it. Uh, no. So I just tried to play it cool and keep the bug happy and quiet until Mark got down. After all, I may not like bugs, but I don't want Liam to pick up on that. I don't want to damper his enthusiasm.

Actually, up until this point things have been easy. We've caught a ladybug and a moth and a fly, and none of those bothered me. But big black bugs are different (so are spiders, but thankfully they haven't come up yet).

Mark came down and got that bug from the net into the cage (Liam gets them in the net, but we have to do the transfer to the cage) and Liam supplied some grass and some leaves. None of us know what big black bugs eat, so that had to do.

Thank god Liam didn't want to keep it long.

And oh yeah, happy birthday Kelly!