Pool Party!

Riley's friend, Madeleine, invited Riley and a few other friends over for a pool party.  Marc stayed home with Jacob because he was napping when we left and I was not thrilled about having to get in a bathing suit in front of Riley's friend's parents but I took one for the team when she begged me to get in the pool with her.  I must say it was a super good time!  Their pool was awesome, a huge L-shaped pool and it was warm and better yet, was filled with salt water so we didn't smell like chemicals when we left.  Riley was hilarious, she kept asking if it was a giraffe pool like we had, I kept trying to explain to her that it was a real pool like at a hotel (except theirs was probably bigger than most hotels!) and she couldn't grasp that it wasn't a blow up pool like we had.  Needless to say once we got there and she saw it was indeed a real pool she was beyond thrilled and was ready to get right in and begged me to go with her!  We had tons of fun and she was ALL over the place in her swimmy, I can't wait for her to start swim lessons in a few weeks! 

And at this point, watching how much excitement and joy that she was filled with about going into the pool I was EXTREMELY thankful of Dr H for putting her in a brace rather than a cast.  Thank God for great doctors who think of their patients on all fronts, not only treatment but quality of life!  We are truly lucky to have found such a wonderful Dr. 

It was a great afternoon and a fantastic way to beat the 100+ degree heat that we've been having!

Swim Lessons

I signed Riley up for swim lessons through the city of Dublin, they were dirt cheap, like 4 classes for $19 cheap so I figured it was worth a shot.  Turns out they rock!  The instructor was awesome, he noticed how comfortable Riley was in the water and had Marc and Riley do some other stuff in addition to the skills he was teaching to foster her comfort in the water.  She loved it and didn't want to get out of the water.  Meanwhile on land, Jacob was lunging for the water like he wanted to get in, he them proceeded to pee on me, like his diaper didn't catch any of the pee, it just came straight out the leg and onto me.  Lesson learned, pack a change of clothes for Mommy in the diaper bag also!

Practicing her kicks

Mr Blue Eyes

My little water bug!

Self portrait!

Jumping off of the slide!

Little Water Bug

Riley was quite the little water bug while we were away.  We went to the pool every day except for one day and we followed that up by going to the pool two times the next day.  Riley was also the social director of the pool and made friends with several of the other kids staying at the hotel.  Because most of her friends were older Riley taught herself how to swim.  One day she told me to let go of her (she had floaties on) and she just started kicking and paddling her way right across the pool to "her friend."  I was amazed, she did so well!!!

First Pool of the Season

Tuesday is my work from home day and it happened to be in the 90s!  Our first real heat of the season!  So I grabbed Riley from day care a bit early and bribed her to leave with me with the prospect of going swimming.  So I dusted off her little pool and got to work blowing it up.  Riley was pretty funny, every time she saw it inflate, she would say: "Good job Mommy!  Way to go!  You did it Mommy!  Woohoo!"  It was pretty cute, my little cheerleader.  So we finally got the pool semi-inflated, unfortunately, I don't have any "big dolphins" for Riley to swim with but she managed to have a good time!

Getting toes wet for the first time

Water!

Wetting her face, she looked like she was in a hair care or facial care commercial, it was so refreshing! :)

So refreshed!  When did my baby girl get to be so big!?!

This girl knows how to have fun!

"I wetted my hair!"

Oh Dear!

Riley had her second swim lesson on Friday after Dr H and her teacher had Marc put her under water.  I could not watch it.  Now, we aren't super over-protective of Riley, in fact, we probably parent her more like a second child, we let her take risks (within reason) and let her learn the consequences, even if it means a few bumps and bruises, how else is she going to learn.  But I get really nervous with her around water, especially because she has no fear.  I was really worried that she didn't get the concept of holding her breath, but she did really well and LOVED being under water. 

Little ham had to make sure that I was watching

Kicking!

Practicing her kicks

Trying to figure out how to float on her back

Little Mermaid

So seriously, Riley has quite the social life these days.  I bought a Groupon a few weeks ago for swim lessons.  We had to push them back a week because of our friend (NOT) the ear infection but Friday Riley started her swim lessons and the girl had an smile plastered on her face from ear to ear the entire time.  Is there anything that girl doesn't love (well, besides her night night shoes)?  So now, Little Miss Social has swim Friday nights, our weekly walks with the neighbors on Saturday mornings and soccer Saturday nights.  Phew, I can hardly keep up with her.  Swimming went, well swimmingly, the director even came up to me and said she was doing great, and was excited to see her willing to go to the instructor so that he could show her how to do some things.

Getting into the water

Getting ready to jump in!

A little help jumping in

Oh and I should mention that Marc wanted me to take her to swim but I insisted he go for at least the first class since I wanted to check out what sort of bathing suits moms wore in the pool with their kids, that and I am in no condition to be walking around in a bathing suit, I have some serious work to do for the summer.  Well I am so glad I insisted on Marc getting home early and taking Riley because there were ZERO moms in the pool with their kids!