He Can Swim!

Joey's swimming lessons are going very well. After his first two-week session at the beginner level (Pikes), he got promoted to the intermediate level (Eels). Although he is still a little cautious in the water, he loves swimming lessons.

Yesterday I took the kids down to our pool after nap time. Joey still wears his life jacket when he swims, but I made him practice swimming without it a little bit. When he did, he was swimming better than I had ever seen him swim, just pulling his head out of water briefly to grab a breath and then putting his face back under and continuing on. I told him that if he could swim across the entire width of the pool like that without stopping and without me touching him, he could pick out a new Lego set from Toys R Us. As much as he LOVES Legos, he was still quite hesitant and said he wanted to wait until right before we were going to leave. I really didn't think he was going to get the nerve up to try, but he did! He swam across the width of the pool all by himself!

It was so amazing watching him swim. It's one of those things it's impossible to fully understand until you have your own kids, but watching them learn something new, be it rolling over for the first time, riding a two-wheeler, or swimming across a pool, is just magical. As soon as Joey got to the other side of the pool he wanted to run all the way home to tell Andy about their post-dinner trip to Toys R Us.

I thought Hannah might want to stay home with me, but she's no dummy and wasn't going miss a trip to the toy store. The three of them left for Toys R Us, then returned home an hour later, Joey triumphantly clutching a new Lightening McQueen and Mack Lego set. He was jazzed because it has 374 pieces. Thankfully, Andy talked him out of his first choice, a Millennium Falcon set that cost $150!

When Andy, Joey, and Hannah got back from Toys R Us, it was already late, so Joey had to wait until morning to start making his new, mammoth creation. Guess who was up at the crack of dawn raring to go? And since Joey and Hannah now share a room (that will be a future post), that meant that Hannah was up early too.

The early morning hours got to Hannah, and she decided to tuck herself in for a little rest later that morning.

Hannah did get up eventually and kept wanting to call Nana to tell her about Joey's Lego progress. Apparently she's quite the proud sister!

And after two hours, here's the final product: