He's a Fish (almost)

As Ethan's first swim lesson started, he was a little nervous. After a few minutes he had a grip around my waist with his legs and around my neck with his arms. He wasn't crying, but he wasn't sure he liked it yet. Once we started a little bouncing around in the water, he loosened up a little. (I think it felt like when we dance around the house.) Then splashing with his hands was a big hit. And by the time we were doing sitting jumps from the wall, he was trying to swim away from me. He didn't want to leave when class was over.

So, all in all, it went well. And I got more snuggles in that 30min than I usually get in a week! We can't wait for next time!

Swim Lessons!

Ethan starts swim lessons tomorrow morning. He has never even been in a pool. I'm hoping he has the Gibson genes for swimming and takes to the water like a fish. We'll see! And although I am dreading putting on a bathing suit, I can't wait to get into the water. I'll post about how it goes!

Comments

No one is using the comments, so I am thinking of getting rid of them. But before I do, I thought I'd ask all of you lurkers to post and say hi! Let me know that you are here, your opinion on leaving the comments, and anything you'd like me to write about.

"I was a young scientist"

That's what Ethan's new bucket says. He recieved it as a thank you after he participated in two behavioral studies this morning. (To Ethan this meant getting to play with new toys.)

We started with an imitation study. The first toy was a rain-stick that Ethan didn't want to turn over like they showed him because you could make the noise by shaking it, and that was more fun. The second was two blocks covered in pictures. The prompters were trying to get Ethan to match two pictures on the blocks, but Ethan would just grab them, stack them, and look around like "I did it. What next?" After that, they moved on to toys that had been specifically built for these studies. (Boxes with a knob or button that made something happen.) The two prompters would each bring out a different toy. They would show Ethan how to use each one, and then give him a duplicate of one of the toys. I think the objective was that he imitate the correct motions to make the toy 'work'. He did really well!

The second study was about handedness. Ethan is definiatly a righty. They started by putting toys one at a time directly in front of him and recording which hand he used to grab them. Then, using the toys he liked most and that took the most coordination to use, they began putting them on one side or the other. By the end, the prompter was putting all the toys to Ethan's left. Ethan would grab them with his left hand and then pass them to his right to use them. They then wanted to put a sock over Ethan's right hand, but he would have none of it, so we were done. I discovered that Ethan LOVED putting little pegs in the holes in a board. We will definiatly get something like that for him to play with at home.

This study was a little strange for me. It was run by college students who seemed so young, but really aren't that much younger than me. And I couldn't really talk to Ethan at all during the process. He sat in a chair attached to the table and I sat in a chair behind him. When he turned to me, I could reassure him and tell him he did a good job, but I couldn't give any type of instructions.

All in all, it was fun. Only 30 min and I felt like we were contributing something to the world. If they have another study that Ethan qualifies for (mostly he just has to be ther right age), we will definiatly go!

All About Me

I've been working on a little, quick scrapbook about ME! I've kind of stalled in my ideas for Ethan's book and needed something to jumpstart the creativity. The page layouts are done and now I'm focusing on what I want to put on them. (This is a strange way to scrapbook, but I kind of like it.) It's weird to turn things around and look at my own life. I'm working on a page that focuses on my life right now. Compared to what I've done before, I feel like I'm not doing a whole lot. Raising Ethan is bigger than anything I've ever done before (and it wears me out), but something more personally rewarding would be nice. I think I'll look into taking a ballet class.

Our little vegetarian

Ethan doesn't eat meat. Not for our lack of trying, but he just doesn't like it. We try to sneak it in, but he catches it, spitting out the meat, and eating everything else. We've even tried fun things like chicken nuggets and fish sticks. But no, no meat. The only way he ever eats any is in ravioli. Gerber makes these ravioli with pureed meat and vegetables inside. He like the pasta so much, he barely chews them as he shoves them into his mouth. So we give him those ravioli a few times a week to get some real protien into him.

The boy is definiatly not a vegan. He would live on dairy foods if we let him. It takes a concious effort on our part to make sure we hide the sippy cup a few times a day so that he isn't always full of milk. And Ethan feels that yogurt and cheese are necessary in a daily diet.

Our boy is crazy. But so are we, so we love him anyway.

Snow update

The official snowfall for our town was 19 inches. Not horrible, but it came fast and furious so the cleanup is progressing slowly. Roads are clean for the most-part and people are slowly getting themselves out and about.

John and our Home Teacher dug out the two cars they needed to get to work, but us wives are stuck at home today. We can't even go for a walk b/c the sidewalks aren't clear. Yuck. At least we are supposed to be back in the 40s by the end of the week.

Snow!

Today is a SNOW DAY! From church that is, so it's not quite as exciting. We're stuck in a blizzard. There are about 12 inches of snow already and it's supposed to keep snowing for another 4 hrs or so. The blizzard conditions also mean that the snow is drifting. This buries our cars b/c our parking spots are next to a fence. John is going to get a workout tonight! Actually, our Home Teacher lives upstairs, so they help each other get all the cars out. We should be back to normal tommorrow, except for the big mountains of snow everywhere.

1 Nephi 3:7

Someone must have felt that by missing most of my church meetings, I have been deprived somehow. And I needed something to refocus me on spiritual matters. That someone must have told our bishopric because now I have to speak! (Either that or our bishopric is inspired. Sometimes I wish they weren't so good.)

So I am speaking on 1 Nephi 3:7 - "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

I think that I'm going to speak about how choosing to follow the Lord's directions is making a covenant. We promise to do what he asked, and He promises to help us do it. As I've been studying a few examples, it's struck me that the Lord (although he doesn't say it) also promises that it will be worth it. Even if we don't see how, the effort will be worth it.

It's been a good reminder that even when life seems hard, most of the things I am trying to do (church, daily scripture study and prayer, visiting teaching, pay tithing, work, be a good homemaker, keep the spirit in my home, and yes, even raising Ethan) are things that the Lord has asked of me. He will find a way for me to do it all, and it will be worth it.

Have I mentioned that Ethan is HEAVY?

He doesn't look it anymore. He's much leaner and has lost the football player look. But that boy is still solid. I was reminded quite dramatically the other day as I was lifting him into his highchair and my back decided it had had enough. Ethan made it into the highchair uninjured, but I can't say the same for me. I'm healing slowly because I can't just let Ethan fend for himself. But I am healing. I'm blaming our genetic heritage. So those that gave it to us (yes, that means you grandmas) need to come take a turn carrying him around for a while.

Ethan and his Schedule

I know we've been obnoxious about Ethan's schedule. I know it's bothered people when we've visted, or they've come here. But I don't care. It works. And Ethan is even catching on. He always knows what comes next and has started telling us what we should be doing. This includes leading us to his highchair and making the sign for eat, bringing his baby into his room and looking for the nap book, and even pointing at the TV when dad starts getting ready for work (we always watch 'The Wiggles' while dad gets ready).

Both sides of the family are crazy and could never stick to a schedule. I on the other hand, always need to know when things are happening. (You can see where this could be stressful. Mostly for me.) So I wanted to let you know that I am raising a child to like a schedule, just like me. Deal with it. Bwa ha ha.