Anyway, this month's theme is "swim," and so I'll start of with some swimming, but then I want to talk about how *sob* MY BABY'S GROWING UP! *Sniff* I think there was something in my eye.
I enrolled Z in swimming lessons because DAMN, she needs to learn how to swim. I am incredulous when I meet people who can't swim. This is California, people. Anyway, I love the way she learns. On the first day, she would kick her legs, but wasn't too keen on blowing bubbles. Day 2, she could blow bubbles but wouldn't float on her back. Day three, she floated on her back but wouldn't hang on the wall. Day four, still no wall, but she could put her nose in the water. Day 5, she held on to the wall for a millisecond. Day 6, she held on long enough for the teacher to let go.
It's like she just needs a day to think about it, but then will totally master a new skill. I like that she's a risk-taker, but that she's still somewhat cautious about it. She is willing to try new things, she just has some wait time. And think of all that progress in only eight lessons!
Today was kind of a hard day. I really want to help her become more independent (I know -- she's three), and so we did a couple things today toward that end. First, I had her do a job -- she picked up lemons and loaded them into a bag for $0.35. Actually, it was 25 cents, and I added a dime bonus if she did all the ones on the side of the yard as well. She was REALLY excited about the bonus. Then we counted the money in her piggy bank. There was just about $7. I made her a deal -- we could go to Toys R Us and pick out something she wanted, find out how much it cost, then start saving toward that goal. We would match her savings. Well, as it turned out, what she wanted was only $10, so we just got it today, which undermines the savings lesson, but it still teaches a money lesson. When we got home, I actually opened up her piggy bank and took out the $5 to repay myself. It felt awful! Like a violation of her trust. She knew I was doing it and watched me count, but it felt really, really weird. It's like there's this disconnect in my mind where on the one hand, I want to teach her about money, and on the other hand, I can totally shell out $10 for a Barbie.
It's a mermaid Barbie (she still calls them Barbaras, bless her heart), and her name is Sealilly.
And then she made lunch. Really. From a cookbook. I have a cookbook for kids called Pretend Soup, and I picked the easiest recipe and just guided her a bit. I also flipped the quesadilla and turned on the burner, but that's all.
So she did all these really awesome, grown-up, independent things today, and at bedtime she had a FREAK-OUT of massive proportions. I won't go into all the details, but at one point she was begging for a knife, so Sweetie gave her a soft wooden sort of sword-y shaped thing, and the next time I went in to check on her, she was sitting bolt upright, eyes wide in terror, with the sword held in both hands and raised above her head.
I suspect they're related. I know it's some sort of thing she can't name, but it goes something like "Gee, I was really grown-up and independent today, so I need to be reassured that my parents are still there for me."
1 comment:
They are there, with back-up!
BowSaw62
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