HHI 2013

We got to spend yet another lovely week on Hilton Head Island, thanks to the very generous Tommy and Patti Weaver.  THANK YOU!  It is simply wonderful watching the boys soak up all that is so wonderful about vacation and the beach.

We like to be pretty lazy while we're there and just enjoy not having to rush around.  It's really helpful to bring along friends and family to help make that possible and thankfully ours keep signing up for it.  The boys love being surrounded with constant playmates and friends and I love watching them make memories!

We spent most early mornings watching tv and drinking coffee, well, I did at least!

The boys were often being silly with Gramps.

A little later we would head to the beach on the sunnier days and take in some waves, hunt for sea life, play a little baseball, build a sand castle, or better yet, build a sand gator, catch some fish in the tidal pools, and just enjoy the view.

One cloudier day we decided to go explore some other parts of the island and forego the beach.  We went to the petting zoo, playground at Sea Pines and out to lunch. 

Afternoons were spent relaxing on the deck at home, playing more baseball, putting together puzzles,  at least 1 million games of parcheesi, and prepping for the happy hour special - margaritas made almost entirely from scratch (he didn't make the tequila!), by Unk.

It was a great trip, full of great family time, endless laughter and smiles from the redheads, and lots of fun.  Thanks again to all who helped make it so - love you all!

Proud

Just a few more weeks...

This came in the mail yesterday.  Jack's been anxiously awaiting it.  It was fun to see him be so excited about it, but it made it all very real for me.  In just a few short weeks he's off to kindergarten.  I'm so very excited for him and am looking forward to watching him grow and learn in so many new ways.  There's still a teeny tiny piece of me that is apprehensive, just because no one there knows my sweet Jack Lion like his current school does, but I know it won't take long for that to change.  

I picked out a few backpacks for him to look at.  He'd asked me for weeks when he could get one.  So we sat down after vacation and looked at some on the computer.  He had real opinions about them, as though he knew what he was going to do with with it.  He wanted a cupholder (water bottle holder on the side), and he was sure he wanted baseballs on it.  I tried to remind him that baseball would end soon after school started and we didn't buy new backpacks every time the sports season changed, but he was insistent and Kenny reminded me that we wanted him to be excited about it on day one and we'd figure the rest out later.  
Three weeks to go!

Secrets

Max loves to tell secrets.  

He will tell you that he has a secret to tell you, wait for you to get really close and then almost yell in your ear.  It's really funny.  And his secrets are the same every time.  "I want to go to the pool and go under water and do the nose thing and pick up the ring from the bottom." These are both things Jack can do, and if you offer for Max to try them, when you're at the pool, he won't.  But that's always his secret.  

The other night he told me he had a secret for me and told me that same one.  When he got done, he said Momma, do you have a secret for me?  I said sure, and whispered, "I love you Roni" in his ear.  

He laughed and laughed and laughed.  

It was one of those moments I just wanted to bottle up forever.  

Sweet Big Brother

Max is going through a bit of a Momma phase at the moment where he needs Momma to do everything and be everywhere.  This morning, it was time for me to go to work and he just didn't really want me to go.  He said goodbye at least 4 times and laid in the floor and pouted and then I just had to go.  I knew it wasn't going to be pretty but I also knew nothing was going to make him happy, short of me staying home with him all day, which wasn't an option.  So I went on to work.  Not surprisingly, after I left, Max cried and cried and begged for Momma.  Kenny finally got him calmed down and was trying to get everyone out the door while he had things under control so he told Jack to hurry up and get his stuff and get to the door.  Jack was in the office drawing and told Kenny he'd be there in a second.  Kenny was obviously trying not to miss his window of Max being in an agreeable state, so he told Jack to hurry up, again.  Jack again responded that he'd be right there, he just needed to finish something.  After another minute or so, Jack came to Max with a little piece of paper.  

He'd drawn a picture of me for Max to keep in his pocket all day so he wouldn't miss me so much.  Max was apparently so very excited and kept up with it all day.  When he got home tonight, he gave it to me and told me all about how Jack drew it for him so he wouldn't be sad.  When Jack was going through a rough spot a few weeks ago, I'd cut up one of Kenny's old t-shirts and given Jack a piece to keep in his pocket all day.  If he missed Daddy, I told him to just rub on his t-shirt and he'd feel closer to him.  It must have worked because he wanted Max to have something just like it.

It's times like these when you realize that they are real people.  Real, sweet, people who care a lot about each other.  

Look at him now!

It didn't take long for Jack to figure this swimming thing out this year.  But it did take a lot of swimming lessons and a lot of anxiety and tears but we could not be more proud of him for getting to this point!  I might have even been crying while I recorded these videos.  Prior to this, he'd hang on the side of the pool, or someone and it would take a lot of coaxing to get him to go under or to let go.  We'd spend an hour at the pool and probably 50 minutes of it would be a pep talk!  This day he just got in and took off.  Kenny and I looked at each other in pure amazement.

 It really took a village.  Aqua-Tots was wonderful for being aggressive and making him try things he didn't want to try.  It was not wonderful on this Momma's heart or mind, but I must say, they probably deserve a big chunk of the credit.  They are no joke - they push them hard.  Jack had private lessons there which meant it was 30 nonstop minutes of being pushed to go under over and over.  But I think it worked.  I have a few issues with their policies and lack of flexibility and it was very expensive, but it worked, so it was all worth it. On top of that, Jack's school goes swimming 3 times a week.  They have lessons there, in a small group and I think this year, though it started out with a lot of tears about not wanting to go to the pool, Jack's really kind of enjoyed it.  I'm not sure he'd admit that, but every once in a while, I see a little smile peek out when he's talking about what they did at the pool that day.  We also found this sweet swim teacher, Brett, who works with Jack one on one, whenever we can make our schedules work out.  He's great and Jack really seems to like him and it's low key but a good chance for Jack to get in some more practice.  All of this has added up to Jack, loving being in the pool, and let me tell you, that's not something I was sure I'd ever see!

It was a rocky start to the summer with a lot of anxiety on all parts, well, I'm not sure Max had any anxiety, except maybe a tiny bit in regards to the tickling pirates, but watching your child be scared of something and forcing them to face that fear is hard.  Especially for this Momma who carries around plenty of her own anxiety about most everything.  Kenny and I tried every tactic we could.  We read books, we talked to friends, we talked to Grams, who was an elementary school guidance counselor, we scoured the internet, and I did plenty of crying and lost a lot of sleep.  Jack couldn't put his hands on what was bothering him - one minute it would be swimming, another it was kindergarten, another it would be about his friends at school arguing too much.  It was really a rough spot for us.  It may seem trivial, but it was all consuming.  After 5 years of loving his school, he suddenly was screaming for us not to leave him there.  It was as though someone had taken my sweet, happy Jack and left me with someone who looked like him, but never smiled, and was scared of everything.  It was really awful.  But I'm SO happy to say, my sweet Jack, is back!  He's loving swimming and loving school and loving life again.  I'm not sure if there was really one thing that worked or didn't.  Mostly, I think it took time.


I'm just so very thankful that whatever it took, we found and now, we can go enjoy the summer! Sure hope yours is going great too!

Big boy bed

Max spent the last few weeks in a little big boy bed and it went great!  He didn't ask for a big boy bed and in fact, when I proposed the idea to him, he said "no, I like my crib!"  But he's so big he could have easily climbed out if he put his mind to it.  He loved it though, as soon as we did it and he's slept great ever since! :)

Look what we found behind the crib when we moved it!  A few hundred bandaids!  He sleeps with one most every night and apparently has been throwing them behind the bed each morning when he wakes... 

On a somewhat unrelated to the big boy bed note, but in an attempt to remember the funny stuff... the other morning Max awoke pretty early yelling my name.  I ran to his room since he never really wakes early or yells for me anymore and he said he'd had a bad dream.  I didn't ask a lot of questions, because I just wanted him to go back to sleep.  I laid on the floor next to his bed for a while but he was clearly shaken and after some time, I took him to our bed.  He didn't fall asleep there either and soon we were all up!  At naptime, as we headed up the stairs, he turned and looked at me and said "No pirates coming, right Momma?"  I was puzzled but assured him that no pirates were coming.  He kept on though - he'd ask every few minutes, "No pirates coming, right Momma?"  He eventually went on to sleep at naptime, but not until he'd asked probably 15 times. The same thing happened at bedtime too and I finally started to be concerned, since this time he was visibly upset about it and his tone had really changed from kind of funny to really worried.  I remembered the bad dream from the morning and asked if there had been pirates in his bad dream.  He shook his head yes and was clinging to me at this point.  For the record, I don't think I've ever seen Max fearful of anything.  I asked him what the pirates were doing in his dream and he said, in the most pitiful voice,  "They were tickling me!  I don't like to be tickled Momma!"  And the tears started flowing.  Heartbreaking and hysterical all at once!  Kenny slept on the floor next to him the next 2 nights to get him to fall asleep while I was putting Jack to bed.  Last night he seemed to be ok about it since the pirates hadn't returned.  He even told me that pirates weren't real and I taught him how to tickle them right back if they did show up in his dreams!

Love you Max!  And so glad you love your big boy bed.

Look what happens when Unk babysits...

Unk (aka Uncle Aaron) offered to babysit on our anniversary so Kenny and I could escape for a minute.  It was a Monday night and we had decided to postpone celebrating until we had time to really escape but after his sweet offer, we thought a celebratory beer certainly couldn't hurt!  I think all had a great time but the next morning when Max got up, this is what we found:

For those not versed in diapering, it's on backwards!  I'm not even sure how one could manage to get it on this way, since normally when putting a diaper on, the child is lying on their back so getting the tabs attached underneath them would be slightly challenging.  But Unk managed! :)!  

Love you Unk, and thanks again! 

Swim Lessons

We've tried a few different formats for swim lessons for Jack, from parent and child water exposure classes to private lessons at Grams and Gramps' pool to bigger classes with his school, but last night we started a new format with a swim school called Aqua-Tots and so far, it seems to be going really well!

Jack was very apprehensive and they don't allow parents in the pool - there's a glass wall between you and the pool in fact, but I was really proud of how well he did, despite his fears.  His teacher, Alex, had him under water in the first couple of minutes and then another 20 times or so after that.  If you had asked me if that was a good plan before we went, I most certainly would have said no, but I think it was really the way to go.  Last night before bed Jack even said to me "Momma, I kind of like going underwater now.  I like it a little bit."

He also floated on his back all alone which I thought was huge progress in the first 30 minutes.

Do you see that smile?  If you had seen him before the lesson started, you'd be amazed by this...it made me so happy!

There was even a little basketball to be played!  

And at the end of the class, Jack had earned 2 ribbons.  They were all out of the 2nd one for floating on his back, but here he is with his first one, and let me tell you, he's SO proud. As am I! 

It's amazing watching anyone overcome a fear, but watching your child overcome a fear is like nothing else I've ever experienced.  I just hope that he can stay excited until next Friday when we go back.  Cross your fingers for us! :)!

Update: we had 2 great days at the pool this weekend where Jack was happy to practice his new skills. Forgive my obnoxious "good job" at the end and focus on how brave he's become this year!

PS - Max also went under 2 times yesterday.  He's excited to do anything Jack does.  :)  We may have 2 swimmers at the end of the summer.