Last day of Swimming

The swimming lessons here in Manhattan are scheduled in 2 week sessions. We just finished the first one and today the last 10 minutes of class was play time. But first Jeffrey had to try and do a front float. I have to admit this is the part of swimming and water that I like the least. Claustrophobia leads me to reject sticking my entire face in the water, so I've been useless at helping him.

 

 He also had to work on his front glides. I love Jeffrey's ability to listen to what his coach says and then repeat it almost verbatim to me when he tells me how to do it later. "Put your arms up like a needle and then shoot like an airplane away from the wall." We have a week break and then start another session and hopefully he will continue to improve from there.

Jeffrey went right up to the slide when the time came for playing. He went with his coach twice and then went on his own at least a dozen times. He had a really good time and has gotten really comfortable with the pool. It's been fun to watch his improvement in just the two weeks we have been in class.

Bobs and a Bed

 Jeffrey has been getting really close to doing 10 underwater bobs in a row during swim class (we go every week day) but hasn't quite gotten there. Yesterday he worked pretty hard and got close but got a little water in his nose and couldn't go on. Today there was a girl who joined his group from the preschool group and did all 10 bobs as soon as class started. Jeffrey (either inspired by her performance or not to be outdone in front of Coach Joann) decided he was going to do it too. So he did. I was so happy for him. He was pretty proud of himself when they called his name during the huddle after class was over. He got a sticker for his chart and will start working on floating on his back and tummy tomorrow.

His reward for passing level 1 was to find a red angry bird like the one we somehow lost during our move. We went to three different stores and finally found the huge one you see in the picture at the book store. He has named him Jupiter and has carried him around all day long. Jeffrey is VERY attached to his angry birds. They are his BFFs and more than once I've had to pour them a bowl of dry cereal too.

We also got another twin mattress delivered today for the bottom bunk of Jeffrey's bunk beds. We got the beds from our awesome landlords in Colorado but with only one mattress and with only one kiddo to fill it we didn't see much need to get a second. But with my mom moving here for a while to help with the birth and baby we decided it was time to get one so everyone could be in their own beds.

Swimming Lessons

 So now that we're back in Kansas it's back to life as usual. We started swimming lessons at the city pool this week. Surprisingly one of Jeffrey's primary friends is in the same class with his siblings so he had a friend right away.

Other Utah Adventures

While in Utah Jeffrey went bowling, which he loved! He was always happy for however many pins he knocked down. He also wanted to go mini golfing which wasn't so much of a game as hitting the ball wherever we felt like.

To entertain the kiddos one day we made roads from blue painter's tape on the front room floor and they drove their cars all around the town. One of the girls owned the car wash and had very strict hours, the other owned the parking garage where you could only park a couple of cars at a time and Jeffrey drove where as Lightning McQueen asking "Doc" (Played by Sugar) what he should do next. It entertained them for quite a while and Jeffrey has talked about it a lot since.

One of the best parts about staying with Uncle Scott is playing with Uncle Scott. Here he was playing basketball for the first time ever! He had a little beginner's luck and was happy to tell daddy about his baskets later.

 Jeffrey also decided on this trip that he liked the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point. He liked it so much he wanted to go twice, I offered the aquarium or the zoo, but he wanted to go see the dinosaurs again.

 Here he is trying to blend in with the dinosaurs on the wall, it's something he learned from his Penguins of Madagascar game and he has reenacted in lots of different places. Today he did it at Hobby Lobby so the fabric cutting lady wouldn't see him. She thought he was very funny!

Here's the smiling shark, he likes this more than the giant turtle one room back, that one really freaks him out for some reason. But when he went with Grandma she helped him sneak past it and they got to this room with the funny shark.

Here's the last video, he was building an island for the dinosaurs and telling daddy all about it. He's enjoyed making videos to send to daddy on the iPod. He enjoyed it so much that after he and the girls would have the iPod, there would be 10 or so videos that they had decided to make for him. It always made me laugh.

Jeffrey's 5th Birthday Presents

Copper Mine

 So while in Utah, I tried to have something for Jeffrey to look forward to each day. He does better when he knows what to expect of his schedule and what's coming. He likes to say "Monday is swimming, Tuesday we're going to the park, Wednesday we're going to see Uncle Steve, etc." We are all much happier and we avoid lots of Jeffrey breakdowns when he knows what to expect of his schedule. 

 

So while looking through a coupon book I found a coupon for free admission to the Copper mine. I went with my sister and her little boy for a little while. It was during field trip time and there were so many junior high aged kids just sitting around. We had to wait patiently to get a look at things and overall our whole stay wasn't too long, but it was fun to get out.

 Jeffrey's new obsession with maps and directions made him entertained by this compass rose for quite a while looking at all the directions, "Here L, let's go southwest, come northeast..."

 The giant tire is always entertaining for kiddos. Jeffrey wanted to climb up it and had to be shown the sign that said "No climbing" before he believed me that it wasn't a toy!

We watched a couple of trucks driving down the mine and one that was spraying water on the road to keep the dust down. That may have been one of the more interesting parts of the trip according to Jeffrey.

The Bean turns 5!

 Jeffrey turned five years old last month. It's hard to believe that he's already a 5 year old kiddo and will be starting Kindergarten this fall. The time has gone way too quickly! I can remember the day he was born and being so happy just to hold him and know that he was finally here!

He wanted some legos, a few books, and a lightning simulator that he had seen at the discovery center here. He had a great day and got just about everything he wanted (is there ever anything that they don't want though?) and one of his favorite things was watching the video daddy had made for him that said "It's Great to Be FIVE!" He ran around all day telling that to everyone he saw.

He has decided that five year-olds can do lots of things that four year-olds couldn't and there are even more that he will have to wait until he's six for.