Two Swims

Yesterday was a hot and muggy day here and Rhea got to cool off, not once, but twice in two different pools!

We had our Wednesday morning swim class yesterday and we had fun, as usual. We did some of the same activities, along with a few new ones. Yesterday, we sang "If You're Happy and You Know It" and clapped and splashed in the water as we sang along. Rhea also got to "swim" through a hoola hoop. To do this I had to put her on her belly and help her kick and move herself through the hoop into the arms of the instructor who was waiting on the other side. All the kids seemed to enjoy this, even my daughter who is very selective in who she lets hold her. I waited as she was put into the instructor's arm for her to freak out, cry and lunge back toward me like she usually does. But, she didn't. Instead she looked up at her and then happily "swam" back through the hoop into my arms.

Later yesterday after I had wrapped up work for the day, it was still really hot out and I looked at the pool as I walked back from picking Rhea up and it was blue and beautiful. So, we decided to take our first dip in the pool here after dinner. Dan, Rachelle and Vince came down as well and it was really fun! We have a ladybug float for Rhea that we blew up and she was happy as could be just sitting in it and being pulled around the pool. We stayed in the pool for a while - the water temperature was a perfect 80 degrees - and, talk about timing, headed in the house right before the skies turned dark and the rain moved in.

We decided to put Rhea right in the bath when we got in the house (what's a little more water time, right?). It seemed to make more sense than changing her only to change her again a half hour later. So, she took a bath, had her bottle and had a little wind-down time before we went upstairs and read her stories right before putting her in bed. This got us thinking about changing up her nighttime routine so that we are having story time right before she goes to bed. I think we are going to try and start things with her bath and end with story time for a few nights and see how that works.