What is it with my kids and swim lessons??

When Evan was two, we were "members" of the Emory pool over at their Clairemont campus. I dutifully signed us up for mommy and me swim classes (yes, I had a one-month-old baby who slept in her car seat carrier on the edge of the pool during lessons...). But, Evan refused to cooperate with the lessons at all. He would get into the pool, but he wanted nothing to do with the planned activities. He just wanted to do his own thing. And defy me. So, the next summer, I thought signing him up for non-mommy-and-me lessons would be just the ticket. He wouldn't have me to rebel against, so he'd be fine, right? WRONG! Those lessons were a bigger disaster than the mommy and me. He just flat out refused to get into the pool. Period. Oh, and there was lots of shrieking and fit-throwing. Summary: a total waste of money. The only wise investment we made vis-a-vis his swimming was the floaty suit we bought at Walmart for $19.99, which he wore when he was 2 and 3, shed on his 4th birthday to swim unassisted and has never needed again.

Why don't I learn?? Helen called a week or so ago and asked if Pressley would be interested in taking swimming lessons with her son, Benjamin, at Dynamo. Here was my thought process: 1) It might really be a good thing to start lessons 3 weeks before the pool opens, because then she will get used to being in the "big pool" before there is a baby pool available; 2) She might actually learn to swim before the pool opens; 3) I'll disregard the disaster that was Evan's swim lesson experience because kids are different (particularly these two) and I shouldn't just assume that she will hate swim lessons just because her brother did. OK. We'll sign up to take lessons with Benjamin.

Monday was out first lesson. It went as well as could be expected. She was very excited to see Benjamin. She was super excited to wear her bathing suit. She even tolerated the super special swim lesson pants (aka swim diaper) she had to wear under her bathing suit per Dynamo rules. She very much enjoyed meeting her new "bess friend" Neela, who coincidentally had princesses on her bathing suit. I thought we were under control. I only heard her holler a couple of times when the instructors flipped her onto her back, and Helen and I both agreed that was a legitimate reason to holler.

Yesterday, however, was a different story. The child got into the pool somewhat willingly and I dutifully went upstairs to the parent bleachers. Then the hollering started. "I WANT MY MOMMY-eeeeeee". And it continued more or less all the way through the lesson. At one point, they even sent in the special baby whisperer lifeguard to talk her down. They had a long deep conversation which eventually resulting in her sitting on the edge of the pool with the other 4 children and kicking her feet along with them.

So, I asked the supervisor after the lesson was over if there was a particular trigger that seemed to set Pressley off (e.g., like Monday when it seemed to be floating on her back she didn't like). The woman told me there was no particular trigger and that she wasn't convinced it was even real crying. Her assessment was that Pressley just didn't want to do it. Wise swim instructor woman. She has my child pegged after two 30 minute sessions. Yep. So, she spoke gently to Pressley and told her that next week, if she doesn't do all the screaming and crying that she could ring the bell (whatever that is there for) and have a tattoo. Would she like that? Pressley nodded. Would she like to see the tattoos? Pressley nodded. She was led to a desk drawer full of tattoos and seemed satisfied that they would make for a sufficient bribe. Wise swim instructor woman and I agreed that we would both spend some time talking up the bribe before next Monday. We'll see. Pressley is really not one to go for bribes. She pretty much does what she wants - and does NOT do what she does NOT want - and if there is a prize in it, great. If not, that's ok too. At least she has lived her own life the way she wants to. Seriously. I don't know how to deal with a child like that.

I'll keep you posted. We may go swimming over there tomorrow after we pick Evan up from school. Apparently, our swim lesson tuition serves as a membership of sorts and we are encouraged to bring the kids in and practice the skills on off days. I am not ready to put on a bathing suit quite yet. I thought I had three more weeks, so I hadn't finished my mental preparations. But that is neither here nor there. I am a mommy now. I don't get a say in these sorts of things anymore. When the situation demands it, I must don a swimsuit, ready or not.

Happy Birthday Pressley (too pooped to blog)

Today is Pressley's birthday. Happy 3rd, my angel!

We (read: I) have had a busy week getting ready. We (read: I) took cupcakes to school on Thursday and today was the big party at the park for all her friends. We had fabulous weather, a great turn-out, and I think a good time was had by all. Check out the pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/apmccarthy1/April09#. When I get some energy back, maybe I'll post more details. Like about how Corin got rear-ended when he went to pick up the pizza... (Don't worry. He's fine. My car should be fine after I get a new bumper. And my dad went to pick up the pizza from Corin so the children would not go hungry while Corin waited for the police to come and write up the accident report.)

Kindergarten Round-Up (already) and a beautiful day (finally)

Yesterday was the Kindergarten Round-Up at the elementary school Evan will attend next year. I've already done the whole I-can't-believe-I-have-a-kid-entering-Kindergarten thing in an earlier post. Last time, I went solo for a tour of the school. This time, Evan went with us and got to attend a K class while we heard from all 5 K teachers and the principal and had a chance to fill out paperwork. I couldn't resist taking a picture of him (discretely with my phone) before he went off to his first taste of kindergarten. Look how cute they are all standing in their little line. Am I the biggest mom-nerd or what?

This photo was taken this morning on the way to the gym. We are so unaccustomed to sunshine these days, Pressley had to have my sunglasses to be able to tolerate the light coming through the car windows.

Finally, we were able to go to the park for the second time this week. Woo! Hoo! I am so excited about warmer weather and getting back outdoors. I may just have the cutest kids ever.... or I may be a little biased. You be the judge. (Please note that Evan didn't even snarl at me today when I took his picture!!)

P.S. Get a good look at the outfit Pressley is wearing in these photos. Those little pink capris you can just glimpse in the photo below are the most frustrating article of clothing ever. They look really cute on her. However, they seem tight when we button them, but then 5 seconds into playing, she is exposing her little plumber's crack for all the world to see. SO not ladylike. We'll have to see what we can do to fix the problem before we relegate them to the extra outfit in the glove box in the car, but we've all had that pair of pants that just doesn't sit right and wants to pull your underwear down everytime you bend over. Right? Or am I the only one? I don't want to impose that discomfort on her at this early age. Especially since we are just getting comfortable with the whole panty-wearing experience. Bless her heart.

Happy very belated Easter

We had a wonderful Easter weekend, filled with fun activities and time for reflecting on the true meaning that we celebrate - our risen Lord. We are so fortunate to have family around us to help us celebrate. We started out Saturday with an egg hunt at Briarlake (where we attend church), followed by dying Easter eggs at home.

Overnight, the Easter bunny paid a visit and left fun little trinkets and what-nots in Evan and Pressley's baskets. After checking out the loot, it was time to get ready for church. After church, the whole family came back to our house for a late lunch and another Easter egg hunt. We have a wonderful community green space in our neighborhood, which is perfect for hunting eggs, so the daddies hid eggs while the women-folk cleaned up after the meal. Then, Evan, Pressley, Will and Abby hunted for more eggs. We finally called it a day around 4 o'clock and good naps were had by all. Whew!

There are many more photos under the April 09 photo link.

(Because for the last two years, the only pictures I have of my kids in their carefully co-ordinated Easter outfits are separate and in the church parking lot with the pavement as the backdrop, I asked my dad to take the kids out and photograph them while I was getting ready to serve lunch. He took 65 pictures of these children and there is not a single one in which they are both looking at the camera and smiling. This is the best one I've got of the two of them together. Maybe someday....)

A new (perhaps ill-fated) hobby...you tell me

Last year, Evan insisted that he wanted a Buzz Lightyear birthday. I had no problem finding the invitations, plates, cups, etc. for a Buzz-themed party, but after checking with several bakeries, it became clear that the cake would be more difficult. Since characters like Buzz are licensed, bakeries can't make them unless they buy the license from Pixar (or whomever). So,

I determined that there was no reason I could not make my own. After running several google searches, I found an explanation for a technique called an icing transfer that sounded easy enough. The steps included: 1) Find a coloring book picture of Buzz, 2) tape wax paper over said picture, 3) trace the picture with black frosting onto the wax paper, 4) fill in colors, 5) put white icing backing to hold it together, 6) flip entire transfer onto cake at appointed time. Easy enough, right? Here is what Buzz looked like when I finished him - still affixed to the wax paper.

The tricky part was flipping him onto the cake. See, this particular Buzz was huge. As you can see from the photo below, I almost dropped him off the top of the cake. Mom and I had to do some damage control to make it look like we meant for his head to be nearly hanging off the top, but Evan was thrilled, the other moms at the party were impressed, and I thought my first foray into cake decorating went pretty well.

Fast forward almost one year. Pressley has decided that she wants a Little Mermaid party this year. She is obsessed with all things Ariel. So, of course I decided that I would do an Ariel cake for her. But, having had the problems with figuring out how to flip the transfer onto the cake, I volunteered to make an Easter cake for the family Easter dinner so I could practice my craft. I found a cute little Easter Bunny coloring book page to use for the bunny.

This time, I decided I would make the cake too. (Last time, I bought the cake from Rhodes and put the Buzz on there after I picked it up. But Rhodes' white frosting was a different white than mine, and being OCD and all, I decided it would be best to do the whole thing from scratch myself. Plus, I usually get a pound cake from Rhodes and I can make a mean pound cake myself. I've never made my pound cake recipe in anything but the bundt-type pan, so I wanted to practice that too.)

So, last week sometime, I outlined the bunny picture with the black frosting and froze it. After we got back from the lake, I made a half batch of buttercream and made all the colors and filled in my bunny. Then, I froze the whole thing and waited. I made the cake yesterday after we got home from the Easter Egg hunt at church (don't worry - I will post pictures of that in due time...). I frosted it while dinner was in the oven and then set out to do the transfer. Ummmm...let's just say it did not go as planned. The colored frosting did not want to peel away from the wax paper. That was not at all the problem with Buzz. Buzz wanted to peel away from the wax paper so quickly that I couldn't place him on the cake precisely. My little bunny friend placed just fine, but then this is what happened when I peeled off the paper. I wanted to cry, but I was simply too tired to exert the effort.

So, after the kids were in bed, I set about fixing the dern thing. After being on my feet for what seemed like all day, it was the last thing I wanted to do, but I couldn't present it like that! Plus, I needed to know I could fix a disaster if it happens again with Ariel. I mixed a new batch of pink, gray and yellow frosting and set about it. It took about an hour, but I finally got it to the point that I think it should have looked like in the first place. And, I think I learned from my mistake. I think that the problem was that I used too much corn syrup to thin the colored frosting and it just simply never set up in the freezer like it was supposed to.

Here is the finished product:

Happy Easter, indeed. I will blog again later tonight or tomorrow to post pictures from our fun-filled weekend. And, at some point, I'll double back and tell you about the zoo. I'm still having nightmares about that, but maybe with some therapy I can talk about it in a day or two. :-)

The incident at the Chick-fil-A

Today I was going to tell you about our trip to the zoo yesterday. But, that will have to wait until tomorrow. Today, I have to tell you about the incident at the Chick-fil-A. Today was to be the first day this week that was not ALL about the kids. Today I wanted to go to the gym, needed to go to the grocery store, fold laundry, etc. We got off to a late start today because when I went to put some clothes away in Pressley's closet, I decided (apparently) that cleaning out her closet and segregating hand-me-downs to go to various friends, etc. had to be done this instant. So, we didn't leave the house to go to the gym until almost 11. This meant we were going to have to eat lunch on the go instead of at home as I'd planned.

After we left the gym, we headed to Chick-fil-A. This CFA has a playground, so the kids wanted to sit outside next to the jungle gym. I was ok with that. After I had given out all the food, fixed sandwiches how they like them, divided up the fruit cup giving P the apples and grapes and E the strawberries and oranges, I was about to open my sandwich.... But, no. Pressley said she had to go. I asked if it could wait, but instead of a verbal answer, there was clutching. That would be a no, I suppose. We all went trotting off to the potty after I had asked the nice lady at the table next to us to please intervene if someone tried to clear our table.

Let's backtrack a sec. Pressley learned a new skill yesterday: climbing onto the potty and holding on without any help. Yesterday, I was thrilled with this new development. Today, Pressley insisted that she could do it all by MYself! I was happy to let her hone her new skill, so I stepped into the stall next to hers to get her some toilet paper. Meanwhile, without my knowledge, she had locked her stall door and hopped up on the potty. Just while I was contemplating how I would get the toilet paper to her through a locked door, I saw the pee. It was pooling on the floor inside the stall and creeping toward me - not as slowly as you might think. Apparently the child really had to go. Unfortunately, none of it (not one drop, I tell you) went into the potty. Some of it went onto her panties and pants, but the vast majority went onto the floor. I used paper towels and I used paper towels to try to get it up, but MAN, there was a lot of it.

We finally had to move to another stall to try to clean Pressley up. Luckily, I had the spare clothes in my purse, but I could not for the life of me figure out how to make the change in a public restroom. (The whole procedure was complicated by the fact that her crocs were also full of pee, so I had to figure out how to clean those up. Happily, they are easier to clean than most other shoes.) Should you ever have to do this in the future - and I hope you don't - the trick is to have the child stand on a paper towel, naked from the waist down, while you clean her shoes with the wipes you so fortunately have in your purse. Then, clean her feet with more wipes. Finally, put on the dry panties and pants while she is still standing on the paper towel. Last, put the yucky-but-not-as-yucky-as-tennis-shoes-would-have-been-crocs back on the child. Have both children wash their hands like they've never washed them before and then go report to the manage that, despite your best efforts at self help, there is a need for a clean up on ailse 9 (so to speak). Then cringe when said manager asks in front of customers if accident was number 1 or number 2.

At last we could return to our lunch - you know - after we had all lost our appetites. We managed to have a lovely meal with a storm brewin' overhead and even managed to have a little bit of time for the kids to play on the playground before we were off to the grocery store. Thank goodness the grocery store went off without incident. Well, at least with no out-of-the-ordinary incidents like at the Chick-Fil-A.

Spring Break....Woo Hoo!!

I had the most delightful blog entry all typed out on Sunday night using my mom's laptop, which has the MOST annoying touch pad mouse EVER. I uploaded the photos below, cut the text to paste it above the photos.... and...lost....everything. I really almost cried. I was SO tired typing it. I was SO frustrated with the dern mouse that kept jumping the cursor up into weird places in the preceding paragraph. I literally have not recovered until now. I'll try to re-create what I can:

The kids are on spring break this week. (yes, they are only 2 and 4, but day care is closed for spring break. Don't get me started.) In a continuing effort to be more fiscally responsible, Corin and I had decided we would not take a trip for spring break this year. Let me re-phrase that... Corin decided and I agreed to quit whining about it. See, for the past three years, starting with a fantastic "babymoon" in Miami while I was pregnant with Pressley, we have been able to take a trip to the beach during the spring. Call me spoiled. I got used to this tradition rather quickly, being part beach bum and all. Corin and I disagree about how good I've been about the not whining. I will tell you though, I had totally given up on the idea of a spring break trip to the beach. To console myself, I decided to take advantage of a standing invitation to go visit my dare-I-say-favorite-aunt-and-uncle who have a beautiful house up on beautiful Lake Hartwell. As an added bonus, my cousin was going to be there with her 3-1/2 month old cute-as-can-be-baby, Michael. Really, one night there was all I needed to get over the whole beach deprivation thing.

But, then, on the way there, my sister called. She and her kids are also on spring break this week. She and her husband had also decided no spring break trip, but the more she thought about a whole week at home with no agenda, the more anxious she became. So, she decided she'd try to cook up a trip. I very sheepishly asked Corin if he thought there was any budget for a short trip with my sister and her kids (just the girls, our mom, and the kids). He said he thought there was a little. With a heavy emphasis on little.

So, we sprang into action. Mountains? Hilton Head? Florida? What to do, what to do? We didn't have much time or money, so our plan was slow to evolve. The conversation continued after we arrived at my aunt and uncle's lake place and after overhearing some of our discussions, they offered to let the whole lot of us stay there for the week. It was a very generous offer, and after satisfying ourselves that they didn't just let that slip out and then wish they could take it back, we accepted. So, Corin left on Sunday afternoon as originally planned (and packed us a bag and ran it over to my mom's house), but the kids and I stayed to welcome mom, Beth and the kids on Sunday night.

It was all such a delightful surprise. Corin and I had a lot of fun with Lynn and Art and Melissa (and baby Michael) over the weekend. It was simply icing on the cake to get to stay for 3 extra days and get some quality time with mom, Beth, Abby and Will. I've included a few pictures below, but there are many more (as usual) under the album tab. Just click April 09.

Sweet baby Michael patiently letting Lynn and I bathe him in the sink.

Pressley in the "hot bath tub" (as she called it)

Evan exploring under the jet ski cover

Both kids headed down to the dock to feed the fish (though we never actually saw any fish)

Happiness is...finding a good handyman

Who knew?

My sweet husband Corin is a lot handier (more handy?) than he will readily admit. When we married, he had me convinced he didn't have a handy bone in his body. But, then we bought the townhouse. Dern it if he didn't turn out to be pretty handy after all. But, in fairness, the man is a partner at a big law firm and has two kids he enjoys spending time with (not to mention a fun wife to make time for), so his time for handiness is very limited. We have had a couple of lingering issues that have been driving me nuts. For example, the giant gaping hole in the sheetrock in Evan's bathroom where he pulled the towel bar (and sheetrock screw) right out of the wall - apparently thinking that the towel bar would make an excellent jungle gym. He was quite surprised when he ended up on his bottom in a heap on the floor. And I was quite unhappy when I saw the hole in the wall the size of my fist.

Another example: the gate latches in our teeny, tiny yard worked for about 12 days after we moved into our house. We've been here 5-1/2 years. Every once in a while (more often than I'd like), when we are leaving the house - usually in a huge hurry - our back gate would be standing wide open. This would always prompt Corin to pull over and park the car, get out and tinker with it until it remained closed long enough for him to get back into the car. Often, on a windy day, by the time he was back in and had the car in drive, the gate would blow open again. Very frustrating.

So, we've been in the market for a handyman. I thought we had found one. I got a recommendation from a neighbor, but the guy made two appointments with me and never came. Then, I saw a van at another neighbor's house with a handyman company name and number on it. It occurred to me that I had seen this van a number of times before. If the neighbor continued using him repeatedly, I figured that was as good as an actual recommendation, so I wrote down the number off the van. Then I didn't call. Lucky for me, though, one of the many times a day when I was backing out of the garage, the guy was at his van. He came over, gave me a very reasonable estimate, and came back the next three days in a row to fix stuff. (The sheetrock involved a multi-step process that required return visits.) In addition, he fixed a door jamb that was out of alignment, which prevented the door from closing all the way and he put new shelf brackets on a bookshelf out in my garage that we use for storage. Note to self: If there are two paint cans holding up a shelf and that shelf is holding a 24-pack of bottled water... best not to try to yank one of the paint cans out from under the shelf before removing the items on top. But, doing this in front of the handyman is what resulted in having new brackets for said shelf, so I guess sometimes stupidity pays off.

Anyway, now I find myself going from room to room in the house admiring the new sheetrock (and newly re-hung towel bar), the no-longer-rusting-faucet in the half bath, etc. The fact that all three projects, plus the two extras cost much less than I would have expected is a bonus that just makes me, well... very happy. I feel like I have my house back. I am already making a mental list of the things he will do the next time he comes. Happy, happy, happy...It doesn't take much.