Swimming Lessons

Johnny in midair leap

Johnny demonstrating his excellent diving form!

Maia leaping from diving board ... wheeee!

Two year old Eva being "dropped" into deep end ... what a good sport!

Swimming lessons are progressing with notable improvements in Johnny's attitude toward the water. However, I don't think I'll sign them up for another class right away as it doesn't seem like they are getting much more out of it than if I were just taking them to the pool myself. Johnny doesn't participate with his class and ends up being carried around by one of the instructors all class. Strong willed children can't be pushed before they are ready in situations like this or it just turns into an all out battle, so I'm letting him go at his own pace. Sammy seems to like the water less every day and may be a bit too young to follow the instructions he needs to. So, we're going to take a break after this week and just go to the pool regularly ourselves.

I took some cute photos today of Johnny jumping off the side of the pool to the instructors and Johnny's friend Maia and her little sister Eva going off of the diving board. No photos of Sammy since I'm in the water with him during his class. ;)

Sammy's One Year Checkup

Just a quick note with no pix ... Sammy is perfectly healthy and developing right on schedule. Sammy's height is in the 75th - 90th percentile and his weight dropped down to the 70th percentile, while his head remains in the 93rd percentile (lots of brains!). Due to all the walking and running, Sammy actually lost weight, going from 23 lbs 13 ozs at his last weight check at the doctor to 23 lbs 5 ozs at today's well baby checkup. I will say those numbers are a little skewed, because the heavier weighing was with his diaper on and today's was in his birthday suit. Sammy's iron level is now fine thanks to liquid vitamins and he has more teeth than average for this age with his 8 chompers. I believe another tooth is forthcoming due to the drippy lip of late. What a nice birthday present to get a perfect bill of health! :)

Sammy's 1st Birthday Party

Sammy enjoying the wrapping paper as much as the gift

Aww ... Dada hug!

Sammy not eating cake

1st cake for S.S. Klevenski

Johnny and Brandon

Well, after a false start on Saturday we postponed Sammy's 1st birthday party until Sunday due to no one showing up, save my best friend Jessica driving an hour and a half to bring Sammy a birthday gift ... thank you Jessica!! It ended up being a very nice party with Keith's mom and Mark, Keith's sister Brandie and her baby Brandon and two friends of mine and their two kids each, Anna with Christopher and Peter and Mimi with Adrian and Julian. We all had a great time eating the standard grilled party food and cake and ice cream. As expected, Sammy didn't give a rip about the cake or ice cream at all. We tried putting a taste of icing and a piece of cake in his mouth and he proceeded to smoosh the rest of the piece up and didn't attempt to taste any more of it. Seeing as he acts like juice is poison, I figured he wouldn't like other sweets either. This is, of course, totally fine with me. Sammy had fun opening his presents with Johnny's help and will surely enjoy the neat toys and clothes he received ... thank you everyone!! Johnny spent a lot of time with his youngest cousin Brandon, who is about 5 months old. At one point Johnny told Brandie that he wanted to keep Brandon and that she should trade with him and take Sammy home. LOL. Johnny was in love with Sammy when he was 5 months old too ... but now that he is old enough to compete for attention and toys ... Johnny's ready to upgrade to a newer model. Too funny! We're keeping the ones God blessed us with ... of course! ;)

Pool

Sammy fish loves the water


Johnny having a great time

Sammy needed to warm up

Johnny walking home holding Peter's hand ... aww!

Sorry I don't have time to write more ... we had fun at the pool today and I'm racing to prepare for Sammy's one year birthday party that is tomorrow! :)

Staying Cool

Sammy running - can you see the motion?


Sammy crawling in kitchen

Sammy making friends at sprinkler park



Cackling with laughter

In case you're wondering where all the photos of Johnny are ...
he doesn't want to be photographed

My very best friend Jessica - right before she moved to Austin ... SOB!

Well it's as hot as the inside of a baked potato here, and apparently it's not even summer yet. Egads! We're doing what we can to stay cool which includes staying indoors (boring) and taking trips to the sprinkler park or playing in the water in our back yard. We beat the "feels like 97" heat today in our sit and spin sprinker. Then after baths for both boys to get all the sunscreen off, I got a couple cute photos of Sammy running. Still shots don't really capture the motion all that well, but you get the idea. Once Sammy started walking he progressed really fast, I assume from all the practice he got with his push toys. Sammy loves to clap and tries to play pat-a-cake with me and blows me lots of kisses. Johnny's getting a little bored at home since school is out and I haven't enrolled him in any swimming or gymnastics classes yet. With a limit of one hour of TV per day and only educational games on his computer, he is spending a lot more time drawing and playing with clay which will help strengthen his little fingers for writing. We play catch and I toss a ball for him to kick back to me so we're working on gross motor skills too. The more one on one time I spend with Johnny, the happier he is in general and the less he antagonizes Sammy. The boys are getting along much better than they were a month ago due to me setting more limitations for Sammy and spending more "Mama-Johnny" time together without Sams.