The Business of Marriage

It seems to me that the age of four is when a little girl starts thinking long term.  She starts to understand the order of society and figures out that the majority of people in this world will at some point pair off.  Like most women, when having a task presented to her, decides to go ahead and tackle it and not put off the inevitable.  Who will I marry? 

This is the conversation that I did my best to stay out of yesterday afternoon:

Mia:  I am going to marry Jac.

Jac:  Well, Josie already told me that she is marrying me.

Mia:  (starting to whine) I need to marry someone I love and I don't love Andrew (another eligible bachelor she knows).  Besides, I need to marry someone close to my age.  Andrew is five.

Jac:  I am five.  I know that I was five before Andrew was five.

Mia:  (really whining at this point)  Will can marry Andrew.

Jac:  Boys can't marry boys.

Mia:  Mommy said that in some United States that boys can marry boys, just not this United State.

Jac:  Well, you can marry Sarah then.

Mia:  I don't want to marry Sarah.  Girls can't marry girls in this United State!

And for all of you who didn't have an older brother to admire, this is very normal.  I remember being dead set on marrying my brother right around this age.  I am not sure when I clued in that this was not only gross but illegal!
Somehow we were diverted to another topic having to do with who did and did not want to go to swim lessons.  By the way, it was a good thing that Jac attended last night because he was told that he officially 'could swim' by his instructor and that he would be ready for Level 2.  Mia was not happy about this and said she would not take another lesson unless Jac was in her group.  I told her she merely had to swim to move up to the next level and explained how and when that opportunity presented itself she needed to show her instructor she could do it.  Jac was on cloud 9 with his self confidence on high beam last night, it was very cute coming from my boy who is so often unsure of himself.  Ladies chasing him, moving up in swim lessons, it looks like it is going to be a good fall.

Swimming Lessons Part Two

We are back in swim lessons and it has been going, well, swimmingly.  First of all, there is nothing like 45 minutes of kicking and moving in the water to knock out two little kids.  When they hit the sheets there is no hoopla, horsing around, or random requests for bunnies and water.  I keep thinking that I am going to need to get a tiny little treadmill or something for them so that going to sleep is a non issue this winter. 

They both love the lessons and are definitely improving and becoming more comfortable in the water.  Jac actually said that his favorite part was, "when I get to put my face in the water".  Well that made me laugh out loud because he has basically avoided getting his face wet for his entire five years on this planet. 

The little boy who caused trouble is back from the first round of swim lessons.  We like to think that this boy just has extra energy.  He jumps (constantly), he splashes (nonstop), he sort of pins kids to the wall (seems to have personal space issues).  Well, of course we talk about him before each lesson and discuss our strategy.  Jac will help Mia to move away from him.  Jac will be the big brother and make sure she feels like she can move.  Mia will ask him to stop with her mouth and keep moving away.  And if it gets really out of hand, they must ask the instructors for help (yeah right).  Needless to say, he isn't really upsetting her this time around, just annoying her.  She did say, "he must get more sleep than I do".  I asked why that was.  She said, "because he has so much energy!"  She is very wise.

I do admit that the one thing I really struggle with is the lack of family time in the evenings.  It seems like there is a constant battle to fend off evening activities that land smack during dinner.  I know everyone else struggles with this also.  I don't know how to recreate that time somewhere during the day.  I miss that brief connection when all four of us are together and around the table.  Any suggestions?

Swimming

Daring, my children are not.  That is okay, maybe I won't have a full head of gray hair before I am forty.  Howevah, it would be nice if they would start to really understand the joys of swimming.  Mia is starting to think that maybe following in her cautious brother's footsteps isn't always the best way to go.  A few weeks ago, I asked them both if they would like to take swim lessons.  I did this interrogation style - separately; so that they wouldn't influence each other.  Mia was all over it!  Of course she wanted to take a swim lesson.  Jac, not so much.

Jac did have swim lessons last year, private lessons at our pool.  Two of our neighbors came and took them with him.  We did this during Mia's naptime which worked out great, because she didn't get to see the tearing of hair and the gnashing of teeth.  Let's just say, fun was not had by all.  Jac was completely traumatized.  He learned nothing except a healthy fear of going under. 

Fast forward to this summer, he has gotten a little better.  He said 'no' to the group lessons I proposed, but is starting to come around now that he sees what Mia is learning and that she is having a lot of fun.  So in a few weeks, after school starts I am going to put him and Mia both in another lesson.  Cross your fingers that he likes it.

Mia is learning a lot.  She loves the lessons, except for one very energetic little boy who is constantly splashing her.  They speak to her in her own language and every 'lesson' is a game.  So far she has really been practicing kicks and strokes with either a kickboard or her teacher holding her up.  They also play a game where they find dive toys on the bottom of the pool.  She is by no means swimming yet, as most of the lesson is conducted in about two feet of water.   But she is building confidence and just learning how to be in the water.  It won't be long.

Here is her starfish pose that she does to float on her back and stomach.