On Sunday, as I'm getting the kids ready for church, Noah says, "Mom I don't like sacrament meeting. All we do is eat bread, and drink water. But in primary we learn about the gospel, and temples..." The first part of that comment may have been a little sacreligious but it made me laugh out loud. And the second part was just sweet : )
Last week Alex took her first ever swimming lessons (don't worry, Noah took his first lessons this summer too - what can I say, we were broke and living in Cleveland). For Alex's age group, a parent takes the class with the child and swims with them. I'd been looking forward to this because I feel like Alex is always getting dragged around to all Noah's stuff. Poor girl, she wants to be big and do what Noah does and sometimes she just can't. So this was gonna be her thing and I was excited to do it with her. Plus, she's fearless and she loves the water. So imagine my surprise when class starts and Alex SCREAMS HER HEAD OFF the entire 30 minutes. What?!? I thought she would love it! I'm sure everyone thought she was scared but the real story was simply that she didn't want to do what the class was doing, or what the teacher was telling us to do. Little Miss Alex wanted to do her own thing. I should've known. So for 30 minutes I fought to keep hold of her and calm her while she screamed, "LET GO OF ME!" "I DO IT MYSELF!" "I WANT TO GO ON THE DUCKY SLIDE!" and a million other variations. It was embarrassing...and frustrating...and exhausting. So that night, and again the next day, Paul and I talked to Alex about the way swim lessons work (i.e. no crying or you go home, do what the teacher says and THEN you get to go on the slide). It worked. She never cried again. She loved swim lessons after that and had no problem participating or cooperating. She was so excited to go every night, and on the way there she'd remind me, "No crying. Do what the teacher says." Oh, Alex. She's definitely got a mind and will of her own. I don't think we're going to survive her teenage years...
5 comments:
I'm glad to hear that swimming lessons turned out well. Anyone that has lived in Cleveland understands why you didn't do swimming lessons there, although at least they wouldn't have needed much sun screen! You should take some pictures of the walls in your house, I"d love to see them. We just finished painting our living room and the first color we picked turned out pinkish so we started over with a more tan/brown color...someday when we actually get furniture and such I'll take some pictures of my house! I like your equation about running and happiness, it's definitely true! So did you read twilight yet?
Too funny! I know what you mean about not doing swim lessons earlier (broke and in Cleveland). This is Andrew's first year on lessons and he's six! (embarassed blushing)So don't feel bad at all!
It sounds like Alex is getting the rules! Yeah Alex!
I love what Noah said about church, what a sweet kid! Alex is hilarious...she will give you a run for your money, but she is so adoreable! Your jam looks delish! I love homemade strawberry jam and I didn't have time to do any yet this year :( Love Ya
Ha ha, yes I can already picture her teenage years...stomping up the stairs and slamming doors...just like her mom ;) ha ha, jk. Glad everything is going well now at swimming lessons. That is so good that just talking to her about it fixed the problem and that she reminds herself what you guys told her everytime she goes now :)
oh man i felt like i was reading about rebecca! i'm sorry to tell you that things don't really improve-they just get more stubborn & independent. i'm not sure if bee will ever get married b/c i'm not sure if anyone will be able to handle her! i'm also nervous about kindergarten b/c i'm worried she is going to tell the teacher what to do & where to go! i guess girls these days have to be super strong--i wonder what lies ahead for them.:) good luck...we'll be getting gray hair together too soon.:)
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