Simmin

I find the more time that passes between blog entries, the more difficult it becomes to post.  There are so many posts that I should have written over the last four months, like about our trip to Disney World, or our move to a new home, or my 30th birthday, or multiple trips to the zoo and museums and most importantly Hannah's 2nd birthday.  It is my intention to get to these things, but if I wait until I get caught up, I may never post again.  So, I will start with the present.

Hannah started swimming lessons about a month ago.  While Hannah loves swimming, she hated swimming lessons with a passion.  When Inez, the swim instructor, showed up at our house, she would go into complete meltdown mode, screaming "I scared, I scared."  It seemed like she was getting nothing out of the lessons, and I was regretting that I wasted money on eight of them.  I debated stopping them, as they really upset her, but ultimately decided that she was most upset about not being in the pool on her own terms and that she might as well start working on developing her coping skills.  I managed to work from home yesterday, so I was able to observe her final swim lesson.  When Inez rang the doorbell, surprisingly Hannah did not start screaming.  She walked up and gave her a hug.  Inez told me Hannah had done much better Monday, they had had their first really productive lesson.  And then, I witnessed this:

So apparently, swimming lessons have not been a complete waste of money.  In fact, we are now signing on for eight more.  Then tonight, Miss Hannah and I went swimming and she wanted to do the "alligator," what she calls swimming on her own, over and over and over.  Now, she thinks she can swim, and while she is close, I think she overestimates her abilities a bit, so we will really have to be careful.

Post-swimming, Hannah decided she would pick out my pajamas for the night.  She picked out these hideous purple and black leopard pajamas, that I have no idea why I still have.  When I put them on, her response: "Oh my goodness, Mommy looks so cute."  Last week, she told Tanner she was proud of him when he drank a glass of water.  She is starting to talk to us the way we talk to her, perhaps she is trying to express to us that she would prefer not be patronized.