Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming...

On Monday we started swimming lessons at the YMCA with Mya.  It's a class where parents are able to be in the water with their kids to get them used to water.  It's been a lot of fun and Mya loves being in the water.  We sing songs, bounce around, float and play games.  Mya loves floating on her stomach (not so much on her back) and we're working on paddling and kicking (easier said than done!)

In the morning I ask her if she's ready to go swimming.  She gets a big smile on her face and says, "YES!"

Working on trying to scoop our hands in the water

Practicing kicking our feet to catch the ball

On her second day of swimming lessons, we got her to pose in her swimsuit.  Our little girl isn't so little any more!  Cue the tears...

Mya also got to go to lessons with JUST Daddy!  Momma went out to lunch with a friend from work, so Daddy dug out the swimming trunks.  They had a good time!

Today at lessons Mya even put her face in the water to blow bubbles!  This is a big thing for her!  She HATES getting her face/head wet, so this was pretty awesome!  And it wasn't like she was blowing bubbles...more like drinking the pool water.  Oh well!

In the locker room at the YMCA

Double Trouble

Trajan came over to hang out with us on Saturday and Sunday while his mommy worked and his daddy helped Mya's daddy in Winona.

The three of us had a good ol' time!  We played, played, played!  The biggest hit was the kitchen and the car.  They chased each other around the house, ate lots of food, did some dancing, read books, and took good naps.  There were some sharing issues, but that's to be expected with two kids under the age of 2!

I told Mya to go give Trajan a kiss...so she kissed his back.  It looks like she's biting him, but rest assured it's just a kiss!!

The kids were hungry, so the only thing I would let them eat the entire weekend was plastic watermelon from the play kitchen.  Just kidding!  :)

Mya chasing Trajan

Somersaults are all the rage with kids under the age of 2.  I just said the word and their little butts flipped up in the air and stayed there until they fell over to the side!

We went outside to play in the pool and the sand in-between thunderstorms.  The kids were waiting patiently to go!

The Dilly Bar went mostly onto Trajan's body, rather than his mouth!

Tanya and Nadya came over to bring us dinner and play for a bit!  It's so nice to be living in Eau Claire that we can do this now!

And time spent with Nadya wouldn't be right if there weren't some posed pictures...the kid is a ham!

Reading books proved to be a challenge.  Trajan wanted to sit on my lap and so did Mya. Trajan kind of overpowered Mya so she couldn't sit on my lap...good thing that Mya is very understanding and didn't care if Trajan was taking me over!  She just went and got her own books!

Trajan is very good at sneaking up behind us...and climbing!  Mya got a huge kick out of Trajan poking his head up over the couch!

Then, both of the monkeys got in on the action!

Parks and Pools

The other night we took a walk to check out our neighborhood park.  It is small, but I think it's the perfect size when trying to chase a 17 month old!!  It has slides, climbing equipment and the all-important swings.  All the things a kid (and her 30 some year old parents) could want!

Mya must have OCD or something because she is always sooooo concerned when she is dirty!

That hair just cracks me up!

We filled Mya's pool up and have it placed in the backyard.  By looking at the pictures, you might think that we live in some tropical location.  Between her jungle pool, the huge hostas in the background, and the neighbor's fort it looks like we might live on the same island as the Swiss Family Robinson's did!

The plan was to fill up the pool and then AFTER Mya's nap she would play in it.  Well, she just hopped in (even though the water was cold!).  I quick grabbed a towel and a swimmer diaper and just went with it!

Mya seemed to have the most fun with her little watering can.  Fill it, pour it out.  Fill it, pour it out.  Then she started pouring it on herself...this is the reaction we got.  Like I said, the water was cold!

Greg came up with the idea to attach her climber/slide to the pool so she could go down into the pool.  He didn't take into account that she would slide down like a rocket!  Needless to say, the pool is no longer attached to the slide!  :)

We also filled up Mya's sand table and put out all her sand toys.  Love, love, love the good ol' summertime!

Sunny Days=Pool Days

Mya spent some time at Grandma Pat and Grandpa Steve's house, along with William and Nadya, this week while I went into my new school.  

Not even the heat could keep three kids out of the pool!  Every kid must love the water!  Mya certainly did!  She liked drinking the pool water, too!  A special thanks goes out to Liam, who, kept giving her more to drink!  :)  

Remember to always take time to smell the flowers!

The kids even took some time to read books.  Don't you just love Mya's concentration?

Our Little Gymnast

Mya likes doing somersaults...or something that looks like somersaults.  She plants her noggin on the floor and then waits until she eventually tips over to the side.  She has a grand ol' time doing this!

Time Out Threats

I've felt for quite some time that Mya knows more than what I give her credit for.  Case #1:  The other day she was poking around at the t.v. and I told her no and if it fell it could give her an owie.  Anyway, she kept poking and I told her the next time she does it, she is going to go in time-out.  Did she poke the t.v. again?  Nope.  She went and got her time-out rug and put herself in time-out.  Hmmm...

I'm loving being home this summer with Mya.  We have some fun things planned in the next couple of weeks, so hopefully the temperatures cool down a bit and we can be outside more!  

It's amazing the things that keep her busy for such an extended amount of time!  Like measuring cups?  Those never seem to get old.  And books...sigh...she loves her books.  She gets annoyed if I'm doing something and not able to read to her at that exact moment.  But there are other times, like in the picture below, where she is content to read by herself without any help from mom.

Little Miss Fix-It

Greg was putting a new faucet into the kitchen the other night and Mya wanted to check out the action.  While some might stray from these kinds of things, like me, Mya jumps right in to see what's going on.  Very inquisitive, she is.

Greg put his headlamp on her and she had a lot of fun helping.  She would take the headlamp off and shine the light into the area where the pipes were.  She also sang a little tune while doing it!  I'm sure Daddy would agree that Mya was a great helper!

After Daddy was all done, Mya had to check out his handyman skills to see if he did things to her approval.