week ending aug 9, 2009:

Week ending August 9, 2009: 3 full weeks of summer left and we’ve done most of the summer activities we set out to do. We dropped the kids shot records off at school and while we were there I took the opportunity to walk the perimeter of the building and to show the kids the playground and the “bus loop” which is at a different entrance than the entrance near the visitor parking that we’ve been using. I have to imagine that when faced with the task of getting on the bus without me and not really knowing how to get to their classroom from there, and not knowing any teachers at the school and not knowing how they are going to be able to find the bus at the end of the day and figure out how to get back home, they will panic. I’ve been trying to talk them through it as best I can, but we have not yet received our letters from the school telling us what they ride on, what time to expect it, and where the bus stop is. So far neither of them is worrying about it and when I told Chloe we were going to drop the shot records off she said “is today the first day of school?” and when I said it wasn’t she said “its not fair! I want school to start TODAY!”

The kids are still making progress with their swimming. Chloe has started swimming in the deep end and jumping off the diving board. She still gets a little timid sometimes, but has made such tremendous progress that I am very proud of her. Alex isn’t ready for swimming in the deep end yet. He tried once and forgot the basics of swimming and started flailing, but he is making progress in his own way. He is really bothered by water getting near his eyes, and has only done swimming with his goggles on. When we go to water parks, and he gets splashed, he refuses to open his eyes until someone hands him a towel. Well this week Chloe was off swimming with the girls and the boys started a squirt gun battle. Alex joined in and had a great time despite getting splashed and squirted.

Also this week I took the kids to see Girl Authority, a tween pop group. Chloe danced in front of the stage and Alex curled up on my lap with his hands over his ears. For one song the kids were invited to dance up on the stage with the performers. I thought Chloe would be thrilled and would talk about it for weeks because every time we to a show on a stage she says that she wants to get up on the stage. But, when I talked to her after the show, she said she wasn’t that excited about it since ALL the kids got to come up on stage. It isn’t just the stage she wants, it is the spotlight.