3 Little Seahorses

We decided to put the kids in wim lessons this summer and as of yesterday they completed their first 10 day session. The first session for them in teh Seahorse group. This is the beginning group that just gets the kids comfortable with the water without a parent being in there with them. Our kids are already really at ease with the water, but they were learning some good skills for beginning to swim. We took lots of pictures showing what they are learning. Playing a water version of Red Light, Green Light with big kicks, baby kicks, and blowing bubbles.
Practicing belly kicks.

Splashing water into the river to move the duckies.

Blowing bubbles in the water to flip over the saucers.

Playing with duckies.

Doing ice cream scoops help them learn the motion their arms need to make for swimming.

Playing Motor Boat.

Madelynn learning the supported front float.

Aiden's supported front float.

Malachi's supported front float.

Madelynn's supported back float. She's so comfortable with her hands behind her head.

Aiden's supported back float.

Malachi's supported back float.

Aiden coming up from being under water. He's done it a couple of times, but is now refusing to put his head under water. This is something that will come with time.

Madelynn under water. She's pretty comfortable going under water.

I didn't realize that I didn't have a picture of Malachi under water so I will get that tonight when we start session 2. Malachi LOVES being under water and spends the majority of his time in the pool under the surface.

For session 2, all three kids will remain in Seahorse mostly because they are still pretty young. The next group is Otters and requires that they have the ability to focus for longer periods of time to learn more of the needed skills for swimming. Since our trio is so young (the minimum age for swimming lessons without parents) we thought it was best for them to do Seahorse again and maybe in the third session move up. Also, Aiden must start putting his head under water in order to move up.

We got their progress reports for their first session and were pleased with the comments left by their instructor.

Malachi "He is great, has been a joy to teach, will be a good swimmer once he is older."

Madelynn "She is a sweet-heart, she is very good in the water for how young she is."

Aiden "Aiden will be a lot better in the water with time!"

We're really proud of them! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Ketola and Grandma Callahan for helping out with the cost of swim lessons. It means a lot!

Where has the time gone?

Oh my goodness! Can it really have been nearly 2 months since my last post?!?!?! Life here has been crazy busy to say the least. Since it's been so long, lets just start with an update and we'll get to the other stuff later.

Josh is doing great. He probably has the most unchanged and normal life out of all five of us. He's still working like normal and doesn't really have any other things to keep him busy besides his wife and kids. He's taken the kids fishing a couple of times individually. It's a great way for him to teach the kids something he loves and spend some one-on-one time with them as well. Josh has been taking on a lot of the parenting responsibilities the past 6 weeks or so because of school and work requirements for me, but he's been a pro and hasn't complained at all. He still continues to be a great daddy and husband!

I've been busy finishing up with the school year which is always a very busy time and moving my classroom home again as I was laid off for the 5th time since I've been with the district (6 years). I will be called back and as off this morning, it's looking pretty good that I'll be back into the same classroom I was in...thats a good thing! I'm also finishing up my masters program. I'm currently in my last class which ends June 27th and then my degree is complete! It's been a long couple of years but thanks to my family I've succeeded completing the program. I'm anxiously looking forward to next week when I can officially start summer and just enjoy my children.

Malachi is nearly done with school; his last day is this Thursday. He has made amazing progress since we enrolled him in preschool in the end of November and is now doing so much more talking than ever before. He will go back to the same LISD preschool next year and will have the same teacher (and hopefully Speech Therapist and OT as well). Malachi knows all of his letters (upper and lower case) and sounds, he can almost count to 100 with help but struggles with the tens (30, 40, etc...he says 20-10 for 30 and so on), he's catching on to counting by tens with help, he knows all of his colors and shapes, recognizes numbers up to 20, and he almost knows our address. I expect to see some mastery of some of these skills before the summer is over.

Madelynn is still very much the princess and the mother of "her boys" as she calls them. She can count to 20 on her own, counts to 100 with help (same problem as Malachi), knows her colors, shapes, upper and lower case letters, sounds, and recognizes numbers up to 15. She is learning our address and phone number but sometimes her "I can't" attitude gets in the way of mastering these skills. Madelynn is very in to imaginary play and is constantly having tea parties with her stuffed animals and brothers. She can write her name although she still needs help knowing what letters come next some times.

Aiden is so smart! He picks up on everything so quickly...often just hearing or seeing it once. He knows all of his upper and lower case letter, sounds, numbers up to 20, colors, and shapes. He can count to 100 with help, counts to 20 by himself, and is working on counting by 10's. He knows our address, Aunt Janet's address, Grandma and Grandpa Ketola's address, and is currently working on Aunt Brenda's address. He is also working on our phone number. He is also learning how to read maps (the zoo map and our GPS) and measuring using inches. He knows his left and right too. He also really enjoys telling us how to get home from various places. He's so eager to learn! He is very good at playing the wii and is becoming extremely good at Mario which is his new favorite game. He can write his first name and is beginning to show some beginning reading skills such as reading left to right. He also is learning some basic sight words. I sure hope that he continues to find learning so fun and easy!

All three kids are potty trained now although we still have days when we have accidents. They only wear diapers at night time and most often are waking up only slightly wet. :) We've signed up for the summer reading program at our local library and we've been doing swim lessons as well.

More to come...

• Swim lessons
• New preschool
• Good bye nanny