My Little Fish, Home Improvements & Kindergarten

I can't believe July is over! Daniel finished his swim lessons and passed his jellyfish class. He couldn't pass last year because he wouldn't swim on his back. This year the instructor used him to teach the other children (who were mostly older!!) how to swim on their backs. Daniel was also the only one to propel himself down in 4-5 feet of water to pick up toys from the bottom. He's really gained in strength this year and the instructor said she would like to see him next year on the swim team. He'll fall into the youngest category and she said they needed "strong swimmers" like him in that category!!

A couple of weekends ago we did some minor home improvements that had major impact on my housekeeping skills! First we pulled up Daniel's carpet and laid wood laminate in his room. He LOVES it. It's the same as our room and the morning he woke up he ran to us saying "Thank you for making my floor like yours!" Who knew it would mean that much to him!

Troy also finally cut me a laundry chute after I did much begging!! Our laundry is in our basement and we have this perfect little half closet in our hallway that Troy cut a nice circle in and built up the chute. It drops right down in the basement into a nice laundry basket and since then all laundry is out of our main living level. We were woried that Daniel would throw toys (or himself) down the chute, but instead as I was sorting laundry I found fishing items and realized it was my husband who had "accidentally" dropped a few things down! It hasn't happened since!! I don't have any pictures of the final product, but Troy faced the front and put a nice top on it. This was when it first went through the floor - we couldn't resist trying it out!

In Kindergarten news, we didn't get the school we were hoping for due to student/teacher ratio and we knew up front this was a high possibility in our area. We're allowed to call back August 8th and see if there are any changes, but for now we're preparing for the other school. I have to go in soon to make appointments to talk to the school nurse about Daniel's medical condition and I need to speak to the principal about his teacher and about a certain little boy who is also attending Kindergarten this year and who you may remember from this post a long time ago. I'm afraid if they get put in the same class, similar things may happen to Daniel and it isn't going to fly. As for his teacher - I don't want him to have the teacher he did his assessment with. I have my reasons! I know I'm picky, but I can't help it!!

Daniel's doing great at his summer camp. He's been roller skating, bowling, to Lowe's, to more parks than I can name and he's having a blast. He gets karate lessons as part of his day and while I don't think he's thrilled with them, I do think he's gaining a lot from them. He's learning to pay more attention and when he and his dad wrestle, I've seen Troy look at him in surprise!! He seems stronger, more sure of himself and he likes the interaction with all the boys. He's making friends, which he wasn't really doing (except for a few) at his previous daycare, and he's talking to his counselors like he actually likes them! He even told me he "loved camp" the other morning when I sang him the "Good Morning" song!!

All in all things are well in the Williams household!

Final Swim Lessons Verdict and Birthday Party Fun!

Well, these days, I'm so far behind that I'm going to do two posts in one. I'm even typing this post in one place and uploading the photos in another place! Summer is definitely here!!

Swim lessons were WONDERFUL!! Daniel thoroughly enjoyed it and so did I. We got there about 20 minutes early each day so Daniel could swim a little in the pool first. And let me tell you...he is a fish!! He loves to be under the water, as in all the time. He'll come up long enough for air and go right back under. Sometimes he stays under so long I start to panick, but then his head pops up. He can even do flat rolls under water without blinking. I can't do the rolls without getting water up my nose!

The next to last class the instructor approached me and said that Daniel really needed to move up a class even though he was barely 4. The next class starts at ages 5 and up. When I questioned her, she said she had already spoken to the instructor and he agreed to take Daniel on, so we start again in the new class at the end of July!! I'm looking forward to it! BTW, only one other girl got moved up and she 6 years old. The other two children (a 6 and a 4 and 1/2 year old) were not moved forward. I'm so proud of my fish!

The last day of class they got to jump off the diving board!! They started on the small one, then progresssed to the medium board. Daniel did great. The instructor let him go way under the water and only pushed him partway to the side of the pool before letting him go. And no I'm not exaggerating - Troy, myself, Daniel's Grandma and his Aunt Cassandra were all there to witness the historic event and cheer him on!!

In other news, last Sunday we had Daniel's official birthday party. We had family only and had a great time. We chose a pirate theme and cooked out lots of great food. Daniel gots lots of great presents including a "responsibility chart" (which by the way works great - thanks Aunt Cathy, Uncle Joe and Eli), a pirate ships that really shoots cannons (I've been shot at a thousand times by Daniel AND by Troy - thanks Granny and Grandpa and Ian), a Glow Station (which keeps Daniel shut up in the bathroom for half an hour at a time (a BIG thanks to Grandma!! :)), two sets of PJs which we desparetly needed (thanks Aunt Cassandra and soon to be Uncle Brett), a new Thomas motorized toothbrush and Toy Story Flossers (which Daniel wanted to take to bed with him (thanks Aunt Amber, Unlce Stephen, Parker and Ava), among a few other great things! Thanks to everyone!!

Day Care/School Update

I am so glad we made the switch to Daniel's new school. I can't even begin to tell you the good changes we've seen in just over 2 weeks.

Daniel has not had a single potty accident at the new school, compared to about 1 a day and even going as far as peeing on his own cot the last 3 weeks at his other school.

Our happy little man in the evenings has now returned. He's talkative again, and so, so sweet and so much fun! Not that he wasn't any of those things before, but all those things were really starting to fade the last few weeks at the other school, but who can blame him.

He's started learning his letters and last night he told me all about the letter "C" and what sounds it makes. For some reason Daniel has really been fighting learning letters with me, but apparently the new school is making them stick!!

This morning he told me needed to take a toy to school for "Show and Tell". He was proud of the train he chose and I was thrilled he felt confident enough to be a part of "Show and Tell". He hadn't mentioned wanting to do this before and I didn't push it.

All in all I think he's really learning and the best part - he's not being bitten, pushed, hit or told nasty things!!

In other news, Daniel is still in swim lessons (I'll post a final review on those after this week) but I have to say that he's doing great and I think we have a future swim champion on the horizon. :)

We celebrated Daniel's birthday yesterday with cupcakes at his school and a small cake just for the three of us after dinner last night. We're having a family BBQ this weekend to celebrate a little bigger and will post some pictures of it after the fact.

It's hard to belive Daniel is 4. But I gotta tell you - I'm loving this age already!!!

1st Day of Swim Lessons

Today Daniel had his first swim lesson. His class had 4 budding olympic swimmers of which Daniel was the youngest by 2 years! At first he was so excited about being in the pool that he had a hard time listening but he got the gist finally and today they learned about kicking properly and blowing bubbles.


Of course, my cutie surprised the instructor when he was the only one to dunk himself right under and blow bubbles. He was by far the cutest kid there, if I say so myself!!


P.S. I'll update on his day school soon!