Happy Belated Kate NaNa Day!

It has been three years since I met this little girl.

She was timid and quiet at first, and not really intereted in us - just our cookies. But then she realized that the man they kept calling Baba had a cool camera.

She still likes cool toys like that.

It didn't take long for her personality to come out. By the time we were back at the hotel, the boys had her laughing this deep, scratchy laugh, with traces of tears still in it. And I knew that she was one of the bravest people I had ever met. This tiny person who was terrified of me, she could still find a way to be vulnerable and show joy. To show trust in this Baba she just met.

For the next few days, she only tolerated me if I was bearing chocolate (see the last video here).

But now, three years later, she is the biggest mama's girl you ever saw. If we are home alone together, she is right by my side, "helping" me with whatever I am doing. At this moment she is sitting right next to me on the couch, with one foot that she keeps sticking under my leg and the other on top of my leg. I keep moving it, but she keeps kneading me with those tiny, beautiful toes.

While I type, we wait for her chocolate birthday cake to come out of the oven. I am still bearing chocolate for this girl.

This year we had to celebrate Kate NaNa Day a week late because we were out of town. We gave her the red silk purse that our guide, Sunny had bought for her when we were in Suzhou. We had saved it because we were afraid she would tear up the embroidery. But a big, almost-five-year-old can probably take care of it now.

Kate NaNa, we love you with all of our hearts, and we are proud of what a strong, brave, smart, funny girl you are. We are so glad that you are a part of our family!

Procrastination

Have I mentioned I am taking a class right now? No, nothing fun like pottery or painting. Or painting pottery.

No, I am taking library science technology. Part 2. It has two components - web design and video making. Can you say gag me with a spoon?

I know I may have some of you fooled into thinking that I am a Technology Genius with my mad blog design skills, but here is confession (There have been a lot of those lately, yes?) - Blogger does it all for me. I do very little. I just get to write. (Of course, those of you with blogs of your own realize that my blog design is lame, but I have been fooling many of my readers for years!)

It's not so much that I find web design hard. Although to me it is. I also find it incredibly boring. All of the link creating and repetitive tasks involved and frankly, I would rather read a good book, or play on RQ, or clean a toilet than do it. But alas, if I want to pass this course and eventually be certified to be a school library media specialist (aka, librarian), then I must actually do the work. Ugh.

But you can see how well I am actually doing that. Here I am, with an assignment due tonight at midnight. All my kids are at school. The one child I am babysitting today is upstairs asleep. Dinner is in the crockpot. And what I am I doing? I am here talking to you. And not even about anything important like Kate NaNa Day, or our recent trip to Williamsburg, or a Big Announcement that hopefully I can share soon. No, I am writing about procrastination.

I do seem to be an expert on the topic after all.

Another Bad Mommy Confession

We are still catching up on the Summer Activities Report with this one. Unfortunately, I have put off telling this story because I am totally embarrassed by it. Ahhh, confession time.

First, a little back story - As a kid, I swam constantly. Like, every summer weekday I was at the pool. Every weekend, at the lake. I spent about seven summers working as a lifeguard. I swam competitively for awhile (although be aware I am using the term "competitively" quite loosely here). I have been swimming so long that I don't actually remember learning to swim.

If you had asked me ten years ago, what is one thing your kids will know how to do before they are five years old? I would have said swim. Obviously, it is a very important life skill, right?

But all of a sudden, I looked around, and I had three children who were afraid of the water. Had I taken them swimming? Had I gotten them lessons? Had I worked with them myself? Yes to all three, but obviously not enough.

This summer, I decided enough was enough. I declared that this would be the summer that everyone would learn to swim! I told them that every chance we had to be in the water, we would be swimming!

It sounds like an excuse, but it really was a challenge to find a suitable pool. That has always been part of our original problem. Our local outdoor pool is freezing and only about three feet deep. None of my kids were going to learn to swim in water that shallow. The local indoor facility has one pool that is warm, but only about three feet deep, and one that is cold and reserved for swimmers doing laps. Again, not ideal conditions. We ended up doing most of our "lessons" in two locations: my uncle's pool in the next town over and in a tiny little pool (that is five feet!) in my hometown, two hours away.

So, a couple times a week I would drive to one of the above locations, put them in the pool, and work with them individually and as a group. We practiced kicking, holding our breath, blowing bubbles, and moving our arms. They were mostly willing to learn, but I'm not going to lie. Every one of us lost our patience more than once. We all got mad at each other those first few times.

On one particular afternoon in June, I almost had a mutiny on my hands. We were at Uncle Ricky's, and we were all upset. All three kids wanted to quit. One of them shouted that he would learn to swim when he was a teenager. I told them that no way, no how, were they going to be the 15 year-old kids requiring a life jacket to swim in five feet of water. They were learning. Now. Yes, Mean Mama, who was also embarrassed at what a bad job she had made of it, had had Enough!

After much weeping and gnashing of teeth, they got back in the water. And they tried. And I tried. And on other days their dad tried. And Daddy John tried. And basically we all worked very hard all summer to not let one more season pass without them learning how to swim.

So, did it pay off? I am very pleased to report, that despite my ineptitude, my children did indeed learn to swim.
Ben is learning basic strokes, and can swim across the pool. He is even starting to learn to dive.
Will was terrified to swim without a life jacket in June. He is now doggy paddling all over the place, and loves to jump in the deep end. And he isn't holding his nose!
Kate NaNa still prefers to hold onto a float, but she can swim across the pool. OK, she can in the shallow end. She can't quite figure out how to come up for air without putting her feet down. But she is only four, so I can cut her some slack on that one, especially since she has conquered her fear of the water. She also has a crazy strong kick that propels her really quickly across the surface.
By the 4th of July, they were able to swim with their cousins without clinging to the wall. Or holding their noses. Or asking 18 times if they could put on their life jackets.

In the end, we still have a long way to go. And I am still embarrassed that I let this go so far. But at least I am now confident that my children will not drown. Or still be afraid of the water at the age of 14 (no offense to those of you who are older than 14 and afraid). We are going swimming at an indoor pool this week, and I am eager to see how much they remember from last month.
I'm sure if I lose my temper again that they would be happy to tell you about it.

Canoeing with Dad

Now that fall is upon us, I realize that I am woefully behind in my blogging. And it isn't just my random ramblings about whatever is bugging me, but rather my posts that I write as a sort of scrapbook for our family. Tonight I will try to at least partially remedy that.

One very hot Saturday in August, Tim decided to take the kids canoeing. We live less than a mile from a creek that is great for taking the kids for a calm ride. It circles through our town several times, so I dropped them off at one landing and picked them up at another. They spent a couple hours on the water playing, learning how to paddle, and spending quality time with Dad. And obviously there wasn't room in there for me, right? Thanks, Tim, for being an awesome dad.