More happenings in May

Recently they opened a Disney Store at the Mall near our home. I took the girls thinking that they could meet Mickey and Minnie but I had the wrong day. Anyhow they go to take their picture in front of the castle instead.
Mother's day with my 3 1/2 kids. I do feel blessed for my good looking healthy kids.

We started swim lessons on Monday the 9th of May. Taylor is getting a lot better. She still likes to psych herself out when it is time to jump off the diving board. She has done it every time though and she continues to gain confidence.

Nathan is doing great. He has a lot of confidence when he swims. I am very impressed with his form when he does his strokes (especially freestyle). He is very controlled and glides through the water.

This is Natalie's first time taking lessons. This picture was taken while she was waiting on the first day for it to be her turn. She was very happy and excited to be there. Well all things changed right after this picture. I was hoping she would do okay without wearing goggles. She did NOT like getting water in her eyes and she swallowed A LOT of water. She cried the whole rest of the lesson. It was a very long 30 minutes and I ended up being very wet by the time it was all said and done. I sat next to the pool trying to comfort her. Natalie kept getting out of the water and climbing on my lap while saying "All done Mommy" I would put her back in the water for her turn for each skill. We survived.

This picture was from the 3rd lesson. She had her goggles so all was good, she also learned to close her mouth which made things much better. She hasn't cried at all since the 3rd lesson. She cried about 5 minutes of the 2nd lesson. She will mostly sit on the stair and watch everyone else take their turn and wait patiently for her turn. Often she will be sucking her thumb as she watches. Natalie has improved significantly in her lessons during a short period of time.

For the 3rd lesson Miss Allison took Natalie through the hoop anchored to the bottom of the deep end. Then Natalie is to get to the side of the pool grab the side and climb out of the water. Then the kids walk to the diving board walk to the end and jump into Miss Allison's awaiting arms. Well that is how the last segment is supposed to go. Natalie climbed onto the diving board walked to about 4 inches before the end of the diving board and then jumped in. It shocked us all. We didn't think she would actually go in on her own. I figured I would have to drop her off the diving board. So this picture is of my attempt to get a picture of Natalie standing on the diving board at her 4th lesson but as you can see she is already in the water because she didn't wait for Miss Allison to count to 3. At lesson 5 I walked her to the edge of the diving board and held her hand until it was time for her to jump to teach her what to do. She has done it correctly every time since.