Swimming Fool

Dominic had a blast at our friend's neighborhood swimming pool on Memorial Day.  It was his first time swimming since last summer, when he couldn't walk and seemed bored sitting in his floatie. The swimming pool looked something like the pic below except there were people everywhere.  Lots of kids too.  Dominic climbed in and out of the baby pool (foreground of this pic) about a million times, and loved running into the wading pool and playing under the water spraying toys pictured.  The water was 18 inches deep by those purple and blue poles.  Dominic is about 30 inches tall, so he was a little unstable just from being so much lighter weight than he is used to.  I had to stay right by him the whole time.  He dunked under several times, and I was surprised how well he handled it.  I'm kind of terrified of water now because 1) he was fearless and walked off the edge several times and 2) when he did go under, he didn't seem able to get his head above water on his own (not that I waited long) even though standing up straight would have done the trick.  We definitely will not be buying a house with a swimming pool (well, unless we can remove it)!

Swimming pool at Tia Weiss' house. Aka "the other Aunt Steph"

Making sure the swimsuit fit earlier that day.  Tia Gloria gave him this outfit last spring!

I had to force him to take a break. He ate about 2 goldfish and wanted to go back and play.

I wish I could have taken more pictures, but I was too busy chasing after this boy.  He had such a great time.  He was really hungry when he got home, and we were both exhausted.  He was in bed with the lights out by 6:50 and he slept until 7am the next morning!  We were shocked after the 5:45am streak he has been on.  We tried an earlier bed time again tonight, so we'll see when he wakes up tomorrow.

The other thing I discovered yesterday is the awesomeness of this:

This stuff is so much easier than the lotion.  I don't think I can ever go back. 

In other news, Dominic did have a little bit of an adjustment at school today.  The teacher's prediction was right.  He cried a little when Marcos dropped him off.  I picked him up at 2:30ish, and they told me he was kind of sad in the morning, but cheered up in the afternoon.  He ate lunch (3 fish sticks and some oranges) and he slept, but only 45 minutes.  Conversation as I was putting him in the car:

Dominic: Car. Choo Choo
Mama: You want to watch Candleshoe?
Dominic: Myeh Myeh
Mama: You want to watch Candleshoe with Aunt Emmy?
Dominic: Ah (means 'yeah')
Mama: Aunt Emmy went bye-bye. Can I watch it with you?
Dominic: Ah

He talked about Emmy a lot today.  It makes me so sad.  Future Uncle Josh needs to work on getting back to Texas!

School Update

Dominic ended last week doing much better at school - thank goodness! I called to see how he was doing around 10-11am each morning for the first four days.  Mon-Wed I was told he cried off and on, so we went and got him before noon each of those days.  On Thurs, they thought he was doing much better and should try staying for nap time.  They got him to rest quietly, but he never fell asleep.  My Dad and Emmy went to get him around 2pm and they were told Dominic got really sad after nap time, and cried each time the classroom door opened and we weren't there.  I worked from home Friday, so I got to take him to school in the morning.  His classmates were outside when I arrived, and he was eager to join them on the playground.  He started to whine a little when I said goodbye.  He ran over to me and I hugged and kissed him, and then he happily said goodbye and ran back to play.  I went to get him at 2pm, and he was passed out on his cot.  All the other kids were awake and playing. The teacher said he slept really well and she couldn't believe he was still sleeping.  He awoke within a few minutes and was happy to see me.

I hope next week continues to go well. The teacher said that Tuesday could be a little bit of an adjustment again.   We talked about school several times this weekend, and he always seemed like he wanted to go.  He also got excited when we drove past it and he saw it out the car window.

Thanks for the prayers and well wishes.  I'm amazed last week improved as much as it did.  

First Day of School

Dominic had his first day of Montessori school today, and it was a little rough.  First of all, he woke up at 5:45am! He has been waking up so early lately.  I know the sleep book ('Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child') would say he is sleeping poorly because he is not well-rested, and that his bed time should be moved earlier.  His bed time has creeped up in recent months, to almost 7:45pm some nights.  And though he is quiet when we leave the room, we can often see on the monitor that he takes almost 30 minutes to fall asleep.  Maybe he does need an earlier bed time?  I know I am getting way off topic, but if anyone has any advice please leave a comment.

We arrived at school about 8am.  We were led to Dominic's classroom and met one of his teachers, Miss Michelle.  She seemed really great, so that was a relief.  Dominic explored the classroom and interacted with the kids for a few minutes while Marcos and I chatted with the teacher.  I told her we wanted to do some short days the first week while he is getting used to school, and I wasn't sure if we should come get him before nap time or right after.  She suggested I call later in the morning to see how he was doing.  Then we said goodbye and Dominic started crying and tried to follow us out the door.  We took care of some business with the Director at the front desk and then I spied on Dominic through his classroom door; he was happily sitting on Miss Michelle's lap during circle time. 

I called the school for an update at about 10:30am and they said Dominic had been intermittently crying.  He did great when they went outside.  Since nap time is around 11:45, they suggested I call again in an hour to see if things were better.  At 11:30, things were about the same, so we decided the poor boy had enough for one day.  When we went to get him, he was at the front desk and one of the ladies was showing him the fish tank.  He looked pretty emotionally fragile.  Then he saw us and started crying and clinging to me.  He cheered up pretty quickly at least, and even said "bye" to the ladies at the front desk.

I think the rest of the week will be pretty hard. The Director told us it usually gets worse for a few days because the kids know what is going to happen and they aren't happy about it.  I'm glad Emmy is still here this week and we can do shorter days, but I'm not sure how much good it will do.  He may still be really unhappy next week.  I can handle some crying when we leave, but to hear that he cried off and on throughout the morning is just too sad.  Please say a prayer that Dominic will learn to like his new school!  This whole transition just makes me think (for the millionth time) that we have been so blessed to have Dominic's Aunt Emmy watch him for the past 16 months.  He loves her so much, I can barely stand to think she is leaving this weekend.  One hurdle at a time I guess. :(

Here are the few pictures I got, starting with before school:

 And entering school:

 Here is his report card for the day:

After we got home, he took a 2 hour nap and woke up in a great mood.  We all felt sorry for him, so he got to watch the end of Candleshoe (his favorite movie) and then Emmy took him to the playground.  I talked to him about going to school again tomorrow and he seemed ok with it.  We'll see!

My Quotable Kid

Bath time conversation between me and Dominic tonight:

Mama: Don't drink the water!  You probably already peed in it...  Did you already pee in it?
Dominic: Yeah
Mama: Yuuuuuck!!! You're a gross boy!
Dominic: Baby
Mama: You're a gross baby?
Dominic: Yeah <grins>

Luckily, I don't think he knew what he was talking about.  He loves drinking out of cups by himself so bath time has been very tempting. I must have said "Yuck, don't drink the bath water!" about 30 times this week.  Boys!

Mother's Day 2012

Happy Mother's Day! We spent a fun weekend with Dominic's Ita, his Tios and Aunt Emmy.  This morning we went to brunch at Iron Cactus.

Here is Dominic ready to leave for brunch:

And here he is with Mama after eating a big meal.  His favorites items were the strawberries, pancakes, bacon and brownies.

His hair was cut less than a week ago and the superman curl has already returned.

I had to include this funny one of Dominic picking his nose.

L to R: Mio, Ita, Tio, Dada, Dominic, Mama