Well, it appears we have another clothes junky in the house. Hope has always been addicted to clothes and quite demanding on what she will and will not wear, generally changing her mind and her clothes more times than I can count in a day. Well Miss Bethany is 19 monthes old now, and sure enough, she's following in her sister's foot steps. Today was laundry day, and so all her PJ's were clean and folded ready to be put away. She changed PJ's 4 times tonight. I have a feeling it gonna get even crazier around here.
As if that's not bad enough, the girls are constantly fighting over clothes. They are 1 1/2 and 3!! There are certain things (like anything Dora right now) that I buy matching... not because I like to dress the girls alike all the time, but because it drastically cuts down on the fights in the house. They even picked out matching Dora bathing suits for this summer! Now our bigger problem is that Hope is Miss Skinny-mini and can still easily wear 2T shorts and dresses/nightgowns, while even though the B-monster is a little light weight, she has a budha belly and is still in diapers, so she is wearing mostly 18m clothes but some 24m/2T stuff. I'm sure you can guess where this is going.... Some of Hope's old clothes that still relatively fit have been passed to Bethany causing constant fights over who gets to wear what!
I knew having 2 daughters just 21 months apart that this would eventually happen, but come on, I thought I'd have a good 5-10 years before any of this started!
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Swimming Break Through
For the last 5 1/2 years I have been attempting to teach Roman to swim. Now I have taught several younger cousins and nieces and nephew to swim. Kids who's parents never thought it would ever happen, I seem to have a knack for getting them comfortable and confident and the water. But my son?? Not happening!
Roman as a baby, at a prime time in life to start basic swimming and water confidence, living in Florida of all places... Roman a a baby was petrified of the water. Now don't get me wrong, he LOVED the beach playing and splashing in the surf and he liked to ride around in his little floaty in the pool and he looked forward to bath time every day, but if you tried to hold him in the pool he would glue himself to you and want you got out you were finally able to pry him from you, all the while he's screaming bloody murder.
As Roman hit the toddler years there was no change. Around age 3 in preparation of our cruise I worked hard with him on swimming and the only success achieved was that he no longer screamed, just held on for dear life! At age 4 I began cracking down and tried to push the issue a bit. He was now old enough to touch the bottom of the low end of the pool and the shore side of the dock at the lake. He did great... as long as his feet touched the bottom! Otherwise he would hold on for dear life. I attempted some basic practices like holding on to the side and kicking his feet out behind him.... yeah right! Or just get in a float and pick his feet up off the bottom to float, even for a mere millisecond... no way!
Well, with the addition of our little pool in the backyard, I, Julie Trettel, mommy to Roman Trettel IV have achieved the impossible!!!! After 5 1/2 long, frustrating, challenging years, we have our very first swimming break through!
In a matter of 15 minutes time he went from the description described above to a child willingly and without hestitation FLOATING in the water! He was using a ring float and began by just picking his feet off the bottom of the pool and kicking straight down, like he was riding a bicycle. Then I had him hold on to the kick board (with the ring float still around him) and with him feeling confident he wan't going under I was able to get him to allow me to pull his legs out behind him and help him kick his feet in actual swimming fashion. This of course was quite awkward with him still hestitant with me and the help of 2 floatation devices, so we slowed down a bit and started with basic floating. I calmly began talking with him and started floating on my back as I did. He completely relaxed in the water for the first time ever and within seconds had ditched the kick board and with only the ring float began relaxing and floating around the pool completely stretched out. We pretended to sleep in the pool and stretch out big and tall in our "bed". This worked GREAT!
FINALLY, we are to a starting point where I can begin to teach him how to swim! Oh, and when it was time to get out of the pool, he asked if it would be okay if he just slept in the pool tonight!
Roman as a baby, at a prime time in life to start basic swimming and water confidence, living in Florida of all places... Roman a a baby was petrified of the water. Now don't get me wrong, he LOVED the beach playing and splashing in the surf and he liked to ride around in his little floaty in the pool and he looked forward to bath time every day, but if you tried to hold him in the pool he would glue himself to you and want you got out you were finally able to pry him from you, all the while he's screaming bloody murder.
As Roman hit the toddler years there was no change. Around age 3 in preparation of our cruise I worked hard with him on swimming and the only success achieved was that he no longer screamed, just held on for dear life! At age 4 I began cracking down and tried to push the issue a bit. He was now old enough to touch the bottom of the low end of the pool and the shore side of the dock at the lake. He did great... as long as his feet touched the bottom! Otherwise he would hold on for dear life. I attempted some basic practices like holding on to the side and kicking his feet out behind him.... yeah right! Or just get in a float and pick his feet up off the bottom to float, even for a mere millisecond... no way!
Well, with the addition of our little pool in the backyard, I, Julie Trettel, mommy to Roman Trettel IV have achieved the impossible!!!! After 5 1/2 long, frustrating, challenging years, we have our very first swimming break through!
In a matter of 15 minutes time he went from the description described above to a child willingly and without hestitation FLOATING in the water! He was using a ring float and began by just picking his feet off the bottom of the pool and kicking straight down, like he was riding a bicycle. Then I had him hold on to the kick board (with the ring float still around him) and with him feeling confident he wan't going under I was able to get him to allow me to pull his legs out behind him and help him kick his feet in actual swimming fashion. This of course was quite awkward with him still hestitant with me and the help of 2 floatation devices, so we slowed down a bit and started with basic floating. I calmly began talking with him and started floating on my back as I did. He completely relaxed in the water for the first time ever and within seconds had ditched the kick board and with only the ring float began relaxing and floating around the pool completely stretched out. We pretended to sleep in the pool and stretch out big and tall in our "bed". This worked GREAT!
FINALLY, we are to a starting point where I can begin to teach him how to swim! Oh, and when it was time to get out of the pool, he asked if it would be okay if he just slept in the pool tonight!
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Star Wars Madness
You know your house has been taken over by the darkside when anyone mentions or pulls out anything related to Star Wars and your 19 month old begins humming the theme song!
Friday, June 10, 2005
Princess Aurora
Tonight Barbara, Hope and I ran over to Toys R Us to pick up a few pool supplies and a new Nemo table and chairs set for outside, and the cashier was apparently a huge Disney fanatic and he made notice of Hope's Snow White bandaid tatoo on her arm from her shots earlier in the morning.
"Is that Snow White on your arm?"
Hope nods
"Is Snow White your favorite princess?"
Hope nods again
"That's really cool. My favorite princess is Princess Aurora, do you know who princess Aurora is?"
Very excitedly Hopey nods, yanks up her dress to show off her Princess Aurora bandaid tatoo on her upper thigh where she had gotten a shot and says "See, I have Princess 'Booty' too, right here, and on my 'un-wear-wear'" as she points out her panties as well! It happened so fast that I just stood there with my mouth open as the poor cashier just freaked and didn't know what to do or say. LOL I got her dress down quickly and he tried chatting about other Princess things until I just started cracking up. On the way out the door Hopey turned to wave bye and he said "Now don't you go showing Princess Aurora off to any other strange guys, you hear"
"Is that Snow White on your arm?"
Hope nods
"Is Snow White your favorite princess?"
Hope nods again
"That's really cool. My favorite princess is Princess Aurora, do you know who princess Aurora is?"
Very excitedly Hopey nods, yanks up her dress to show off her Princess Aurora bandaid tatoo on her upper thigh where she had gotten a shot and says "See, I have Princess 'Booty' too, right here, and on my 'un-wear-wear'" as she points out her panties as well! It happened so fast that I just stood there with my mouth open as the poor cashier just freaked and didn't know what to do or say. LOL I got her dress down quickly and he tried chatting about other Princess things until I just started cracking up. On the way out the door Hopey turned to wave bye and he said "Now don't you go showing Princess Aurora off to any other strange guys, you hear"
Bethany Stats
Bethany finally had her 18 month checkup today. She weighed in at 23lbs and 32.5 inches. That's 5th percentile for weight, 50% for height, and 55% for head circumference. Same growth curve we've seen since birth. So she's doing great!
Dancing Flowers
As we were heading to the girls' doctor's appointment this morning R-E-S-P-E-C-T was blaring on the radio. I came to a light and looked in the back seat to see Hope and Bethany dancing and singing along with the radio. Then Hopey stopped, grinned and pointed out the window. "Look mommy, even the flowers are dancing!" The wind was blowing just right and it really did look like the flowers were dancing in tune with the beat.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
"Those Other People"
This past weekend we bought a pool - thanks Grandma!! - for the kids. It's one of those large blowup pools, 12 ft around and 3 ft high. Yesterday we were able to get it up with much laughter and frustration from and over the kids. They were just soooooo excited about everything and couldn't help but want to "help" and couldn't seem to stay out of the water once it started filling up. They're really going to enjoy it this summer!
So anyway, today when I got home from work I put them in their bathing suits and the kids and I headed for the new pool. They all had so much fun! It turns out that the 3ft deep must include the blow up bubble part at the top because in reality it's only about 2 1/2 foot of water coming up about belly button deep on Roman, chest high on Hope and much to our amazement, chin deep on the shallow side on Bethany. Yes we have a deep end and a shallow end as the ground is slightly sloped.
The kids and I had a ball splashing around and playing in the water. As James and I began dicussing dinner, Roman announced he had to go to the bathroom so out he went and disappeared out into the house. Next was Hope dancing around having to go to the bathroom so out she went and disappeared into the house. Taking advantage of this, I got Bethany out and we started heading in to dry off and dress for dinner. About the same time Grandma showed up and Roman and Hope returned. Roman was disappointed and stomped back inside pouting while Hope went into theatrical hysterics. Grandma took it upon herself to tend to the Hope-Hope. Once inside she asked Hope what was wrong. Hope's response, "Those other people won't let me back in the pool!" Laughing Grandma asked "Who's 'those other people'?" Practically growling through gritted teeth she huffed "That mommy and daddy right there" pointing at James and I as we broke into hysterics.
So anyway, today when I got home from work I put them in their bathing suits and the kids and I headed for the new pool. They all had so much fun! It turns out that the 3ft deep must include the blow up bubble part at the top because in reality it's only about 2 1/2 foot of water coming up about belly button deep on Roman, chest high on Hope and much to our amazement, chin deep on the shallow side on Bethany. Yes we have a deep end and a shallow end as the ground is slightly sloped.
The kids and I had a ball splashing around and playing in the water. As James and I began dicussing dinner, Roman announced he had to go to the bathroom so out he went and disappeared out into the house. Next was Hope dancing around having to go to the bathroom so out she went and disappeared into the house. Taking advantage of this, I got Bethany out and we started heading in to dry off and dress for dinner. About the same time Grandma showed up and Roman and Hope returned. Roman was disappointed and stomped back inside pouting while Hope went into theatrical hysterics. Grandma took it upon herself to tend to the Hope-Hope. Once inside she asked Hope what was wrong. Hope's response, "Those other people won't let me back in the pool!" Laughing Grandma asked "Who's 'those other people'?" Practically growling through gritted teeth she huffed "That mommy and daddy right there" pointing at James and I as we broke into hysterics.
Monday, June 06, 2005
Playground Bullies Move to Teeball
James is coaching Roman's Teeball team this season, now that soccer is over. Well, today we had Teeball meet and greet followed by our first practice. As Tyree began calling off names and separating into teams, the first member of the Mariners walks over.... Noah Anderson.... the cousin of the bully we had so much trouble with during soccer season! And worse, his mother who is the one I thought would take my head off when I approached her about the boys at soccer's meet and greet!
Neither of us said anything about it and she was overall pleasant enough. Fortunately her nephew is not going to be joining us. Though this should certainly prove to be an eventful Teeball season!
Neither of us said anything about it and she was overall pleasant enough. Fortunately her nephew is not going to be joining us. Though this should certainly prove to be an eventful Teeball season!
Sunday, June 05, 2005
What's for Lunch?
When asked today what he would like for lunch, Roman replied, "A ham sandwhich"
Easy enough, what would you like on your ham sandwhich?
"cheese, turkey, and mayonaise (pause) and NO HAM"
Easy enough, what would you like on your ham sandwhich?
"cheese, turkey, and mayonaise (pause) and NO HAM"
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