Busy Day

Busy days are good days. It means that I have very little time to think about things that I don't want to think about. It means that the family has fun. What did we do today?

We fed the fish in the pond. Larien is getting very good at tossing the food into the water. Not so long ago when she would throw the food pellets most would end up on the stones around the pond. This delighted White Dragon who eagerly licked up the fish food.

Inwe and Larien rode their bikes today--in the street--with Finwe and I watching. Finwe rode in the stroller. Our neighbors, the MaddJones', were out doing the same thing. This resulted in our two families (minus Phill who was playing doctor) playing in their backyard. The MaddJones' have two swings. You do the math--five kids and two swings. Two kids are happy; two kids are a tad bit whiny and impatient, and one baby is rather oblivious to all the drama. We made it through with some team parenting and redirection. Somewhere after the swinging and one mad dash down the street in bikes, we made lunch for all of us.

Naps! Yes! Naps at the same time for all my children. Yipee!

Phill arrived home. We packed for the pool. We played at the pool. Well, Phill, Inwe and Larien played at the pool. I got the job of handling the fussy Finwe. Why was he fussy? Turns out that he was tired. I'm still scratching my head over that one. He had just woken from a nearly two hour nap. Alas, I dutifully rocked and sang as I watched children and parents frolick in the baby pool. He slept quite happily on me.

Inwe is amazing in the water now. She's not a great swimmer yet, but she will be. She loves swimming under the water. She's getting the concept of the kick and getting a breath of air as she comes up. I'm very proud of her. It's as if her physical development is catching up with her mind. I like seeing this progression.

Larien? Well, she's very comfortable in the water. When she is around me she is very independent, but not in a scary "get your butt over here" kind of way. She uses an innertub as a float and does her best to kick and stroke with her arms. I believe she's still a bit too young to do these tasks very well, but it won't be long. We'll be spending plenty of time at the pool so she'll get better.

With Phill, swimming is different for Larien. She's clingy. She acts less confident. I really wish that Finwe would be more comfortable with Phill in the baby pool so that I could get Larien more comfortable in the shallow (but not baby) pool. One day that will happen.

We arrived home for dinner. The girls ate quite a bit after all the swimming. The end of the active day was picking plums from the four trees in our yard. Larien had three or four or more. I wasn't paying that much attention. Inwe even had some. Finwe had the inside of a plum. They are quite tasty, these plums.