Another Day of Swimming

No new pictures today, sorry. It was just another day here, as I think Lucas gets more and more used to staying here. After breakfast this morning we took a bike ride around the neighborhood (this means me walking behind Lucas as he rides his bat mobile). At one house he saw a flag on a pole and kept saying 'flag flying' and then 'good-bye flag.' We were there forever staring at the flag--he made sure I was looking. Finally we could move on. We played a little in the house, the usual balls and block and money. We also got all the stuffed monkeys down and played with them. I set the laundry basket upside down in my room so Lucas could turn on the light and he decided this would be his jumping platform. Then he made the babies (stuffed monkeys) jump off the basket as well. I put him down for a nap a little early since we were going to the pool this afternoon and I wanted him to be up in time to eat lunch before we left. Well, he laid in bed for close to an hour before finally falling asleep. No Jaime, I didn't let him cry for an hour, in fact, he didn't cry at all. He went right to bed but continued to talk to his babies. I listened on the monitor. I can't remember everything but a couple things he said was once 'quiet Sammy' when she was barking outside and 'no crying, Beckie' and then he pretended to cry like a baby. It was hysterical. Those babies must laugh at him to keep him going so long. Oh, and he counted for jumping (1, 2, 3, go!) and sang Ring Around the Rosy. He woke up after about an hour and a half, with a little crabbiness. He didn't want to talk to Abby or play. He just wanted his hot dog and then it was too hot, which set him off. When he finally woke up he was ready to go.

We had a good time at the pool today. We did a lot of jumping into the water again. We practiced his swimming. When I let go and he was all on his own floating and kicking he was so proud. I think he really liked the feeling of floating in water on his own and not being held. So we practiced some swimming and he was getting to the point where he can start to swim on his own (with his floaties on). His kick isn't strong enough yet to really propel him, but I can put him a couple feet from the edge and he'll swim to it. He gets so very proud when he reaches the side. I also did a modified version of rocket. Instead of throwing him across the pool, I bounced him on my thighs and then threw him into the air, catching him in the water on the way down. He absolutely loved it and kept saying 'rocket!' Then Abby had to do "rocket" so Jill had to play it with her. Abby's a little less fearless in the water though, and doesn't let go to jump. Difference between boys and girls? We got a little more sun than last time, even though we were there about the same amount of time. It even felt cooler today than last time too. So now I'm a pretty red, but just on my front, my lower back and back of my legs don't match the front at all. It's cute.

When we came home Abby and Lucas played in the backyard for a little bit before she and Jill needed to head home. Lucas and I played with the play-doh before dinner. The dogs were in the house and at one point Lucas dropped the whole batch of blue on the ground and Zeus grabbed it. I had to take the slobbery mess out of his mouth and wipe it off. It was disgusting. If you want to see Zeus move quickly, drop play-doh. After dinner, Lucas turned the toy buckets upside down and used those for jumping platforms. He would jump off of them onto the couch. He's so cute when he jumps; 1-2-3-go! He wanted to jump from the couch to the buckets but I put a quick stop to that one. We also played with the stuffed monkey babies again. He would grab a monkey and say mine. I would grab it back, tickle him, and say ours. He would grab it back and it'd start all over again. The bath tonight lasted a total of maybe 3 minutes. I found an ouwy from earlier and started crying. I knew he was pretty tired, but it was still a little too early to go down. So we put on the pj's (the only ones he'll wear now are the doggie ones) and he said 'boom' which he usually does, and this time I said okay (boom means the stairs, he sits on them and goes boom all the way down, so if he says boom he wants to go downstairs). I think he was surprised that I said okay, he's used to hearing a flat no. We went down and read a few books. It was close enough to bedtime by the time we were done so I told him bed, he told me no, and then turned around and put his head on my shoulder and his thumb in his mouth. He was ready. He went straight down and I haven't heard a peep from him since. He's gotta be tired. Every day's a big day so far, although his energy never fails to amaze me.

I also talked to Michael. Things are as good as can be. He's doing really well; he got a 100 on his first test. After chow last night he went back to the classroom to help some other people that were struggling. This stuff seems to come naturally to him and I knew he'd have no problem. An update on the car: the kid that hit the car wasn't insured (like he said he was) but luckily we have uninsured motorist coverage because we don't have collision, only liability. I've been keeping so busy with Lucas it hasn't given me that chance to feel really lonely like I normally do when he's gone. Now I'll have less than a week to get everything done around the house before he comes home (it's my time to deep-deep clean while he's not around to get in the way). I still miss him though, but it's only another week and some odd days. Not too bad.