Look! No Floatie!

The most exciting thing happened when we were on vacation in August:  Noah learned to swim without his floatie!  He took swimming lessons all summer, and he was feeling more confident about his abilities.  During one of his last lessons, he watched as his friend Austin tried swimming without his floatie.  Austin had so much fun that Noah wanted to try it too!  He was able to swim a short distance back and forth between myself and Ms. Sandie, his swimming teacher.  He was excited about his new discovery, but hesitant to try to swim too much without his floatie.

The pool in Hilton Head was the perfect place for him to practice swimming, and vacation was the perfect time.  The pool had a shallow U-shaped stair area where Noah could swim back and forth and back and forth and back and forth...you get the idea...between the stairs and railings.  It was just what he needed in order to get the feeling of floating and swimming.  By the end of the week, he could do a simple breaststroke.

He was so proud of himself and he knew he had accomplished something really big!

Top 10 Things to do on Vacation

1. Loosen up!

2. Ride a pony

(Isaac chose not to do this one, but Noah loved riding on Romeo the Pony)

3. See the world from a bike trailer

4. Take a nap on the beach

5. Bury yourself in something you enjoy

6. Enjoy God's beautiful earth

7. Be a beachcomer

8. Wear goggles

9. Swim, swim, swim! Swim until your fingers turn into raisins.

10. Enjoy every moment.

The Art of the Toddler Jump

Inspired by his older brother, Isaac decided to strengthen his jumping skills while we were in Hilton Head, too.

Isaac started out jumping while holding on to two hands.  Even at the beginning, he would go completely under when he jumped, and he loved it!

After a while, he was comfortable jumping while Matt held on to his sides with both hands.

After a few days, Isaac would jump in while only holding one hand.  Look at the look on his face - eyes squeezed shut, taking a leap of faith jump, totally trusting Daddy to keep him safe.

At the end of our vacation, Isaac was loving the one-handed jump.  He would stand on the side of the pool and scream, "Mommy!" until he made sure I was watching him as he jumped.

Look at that big (open eyed) smile!

The Art of the Jump

Noah has always loved jumping into the pool, but when we were in Hilton Head, he took his jumps to new levels.

The bird.

The propeller.

The flying leap.

Superman.

The Yippie.  As Isaac looks on in amazement.

The Flying Noah.

The sitting jump.

The modified sitting jump, where it looks like he's sitting in the chair behind him.

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial in the art of the jump.  Feel free to borrow some of Noah's moves and incorporate them into your jumps in the future!

Dog Heaven

Emma Lou Marie Diamond
Spring 1999 - September 9, 2011

It's sad for us to write, but Emma has gone to doggie heaven.

Isaac doesn't quite understand what has happened, but we have had some good conversations with Noah about life and death, and he is asking lots of good questions and seeming to understand what has happened. We have spent the last few days looking through our puppy pictures with Noah. He thought that it was funny that she was so small when she first joined our family.

As have reminisced about Emma's life, remembering the funnier and happier stories, like the time that she ate Grammy's new pearl earring on Christmas morning. Or the time that she ate an entire chocolate fudge cake, entire loaves of bread, sandwiches and cookies - really whatever she could steal. Emma joined us on our cross country ventures, visited many states and event stayed the night at a five star bed and breakfast.

Emma would happily sit at our feet while we spent countless hours working on the computers for school or work.
She loved a good rub and a scratch on the behind. Long walks around the neighborhood were her favorite. She would spend her days in the grass, pictured above, watching the clouds go by.

Emma was always a "nuclear family" dog. She only made two dog friends her whole life: Buddy and Mitzi. She loved her "grandparents" and our close friends that she saw often, but that was it. She had her family and that was enough for her. She was never interested in expanding her social circle. When we lived in California, we took her to various dog parks for socialization, but she absolutely hated every minute of it. We used to joke that we could punish her by threatening to take her back to the dog park!

Emma's world was rocked by the birth of Noah. She had been our only "child" for eight years. When we came home from the hospital with Noah, it took at least three weeks before Emma would come within arms-reach of Laura. Once Emma came to terms with our expanding family, Noah and Emma were great buddies, and Isaac and Emma were always inseparable. Mostly because Isaac proved to be a great food source for her.

Emma, you were our good girl. We miss you.

First Day of Preschool

Today was Noah's first day of preschool at Good Shepherd. He's in the Monday/Wednesday/Friday 4's class, and school is in session from 9:30 to 1:00.

Noah has been so excited about school starting. Crazy excited. He chose his first lunchbox and he thinks the best part of school is that he gets to eat lunch there. He was so excited this morning that he would only make cheeseball faces for the camera, but it captures his mood.

His teachers are Ms. Karen and Ms. Jean. We can tell that these are the perfect teachers for him just by their names. Noah learned how to say the /k/ sound in June, so he can say "Karen" perfectly. We have been working on the /j/ sound so that he can say "Jean," but that's been a tough sound for him. We've worked on it together and I've heard him practicing it in the car and when he's laying in bed. He really wanted to be able to say "Jean" before school started. And then, when we were in Hilton Head, he got it! Now he's saying all sorts of words like "jellybean" and "joke," and he's so proud of himself. Nothing like a deadline to accelerate learning!

Noah's excitement for school was not shared by Isaac, though. When we walked Noah to his classroom this morning, Isaac went right inside and made himself at home at an activity. I've always thought that Isaac sees himself as being four years old, but this morning confirmed it. We kissed Noah good-bye and headed outside. Isaac wanted to play on the playground, but I wasn't sure of the schedule for when a class would be coming out to play, so I had to get my little guy in the car kicking and screaming. The worst part was when Isaac continually screamed "Whoa-wa! Whoa-wa! Whoa-wa!" (Noah!) as we pulled out of the parking lot. He was not only upset that he didn't get to play at school, but he was horrified that we were leaving without Noah!

Isaac and I ended up having a great morning together, but there's going to be an adjustment period as we figure out how to drop off Noah and get back in the car again.

This story is to be continued on Friday...

Ahh...vacation

We are at the end of another wonderful week in Hilton Head.

We biked all the way to the Salty Dog for dinner on our first night, then we listened to the "guitar guy"
and then we went home to our beach house and slept all night. And we never ever woke up in the middle of the night.

The next day we ate cereal and went to the beach. These words are not under a beach picture. This is from the Salty Dog.

(I wrote the first sentence, but Noah wrote the rest of this entry)