Swim Lessons

Elliot had swim lessons! Melanie Nielsen in our ward teaches lessons in her backyard. Elliot was in her Beginner Fish class. Something about swim class names always tickles me.

The first day was... not successful. He cried pretty much the whole lesson. 

Trying to escape the pool

Solid defense move there son

I spent the rest of the day brainwashing him about how nice the teachers are and how fun swimming is. The next day I bribed him with a lollipop that he could have if he tried all the games. He did better and better throughout the week. He's definitely not swimming on his own, but he can intentionally doggy paddle around with his puddle jumper on now, and he likes to practice monkey walks and kicking holding onto my arm with no floaties. We will call that progress enough for this year!

We have been spending a lot of time in the water this year! I prefer the splash pad or kiddie pool if we are willing to drive, but we will also walk to the pool at the end of the street fairly often. 

This 8 month old baby is wearing a size 18 month swim suit!

Aaron's 29th Birthday

It is so fun that Aaron's birthday always happens around Memorial Day Weekend. It makes a great excuse to pack in adventure! First stop was dinner at Texas Roadhouse (we had a gift card to use up) on Saturday. 

Elliot was very impressed with the endless peanut bucket

We loved having this little face poking up over the edge of the table

She was in it for the cheerios

Elliot's birthday card, made all by himself

Featuring his beloved dad as a cyclops

Elliot helping make the triple chocolate cheesecake

We ended up inviting all the folks we went camping with plus a few others to come over to eat cake. Cassie Heyen made a second cheesecake and the Coes made their delicious homemade ice cream. It was super tasty! 

Aaron is the rock of our family. It is nice having a day to celebrate him!

Madera Canyon Camping

Memorial Day Weekend is always a great time for a camp or hike. This year we attempted to get a group to go to Rocky Point, Mexico with us, but everyone already had plans or didn't have a passport. We put that adventure on the back burner and decided to do spend a night in Madera Canyon instead. 

Testing out our new pack and play. It folds small enough to fit in a suitcase

It was pretty hot in the sun, but really nice in the shade. The campground was really rocky and on a slight hill. Elliot and his buddies COULD NOT figure out the skill of walking on this mildly treacherous ground. They were constantly biffing it. Tears were shed. Band Aids were applied. 

This is my new favorite picture of Annie

The early crew

Walking to the (almost completely dry) stream

He kept falling even on the obstacle free road! This kid is super smart but needs to work on his "walking on inclines" skills. 

The kids went to bed pretty well, although I eventually found out that Elliot had commandeered the old phone that we use as a sound machine while camping. He was lounging on our air mattress playing games. I eventually had to take the phone out of the tent and have him fall asleep without the white noise. 

The grown ups had a fun time playing citadels by lantern light and talking a lot about vegetables and other fascinating topics. 

I am proud to claim the title of last one out of bed the next morning, having slept in until 7. We had overnight oats for breakfast and leisurely broke down camp before heading over to another (completely dry) section of the creek.  

At least there were sticks!

Madera Canyon is known for great bird watching. This family of Blue Jays was hanging out near our campsite. We also spotted a wild turkey!

BOB Books

Back in February, we ordered a set of Bob books for Elliot. They are what I learned to read with back in the day, and I think they are great. Elliot has always been interested in letters ever since he all but taught them to himself with his alphabet blocks when he was one. He had all the letter sounds down, so we figured we would start him on reading. We made a sticker chart and told him we would go to Baskin Robbins if he finished it. 

It was slow going, and we didn't push him. We would help him, but he didn't earn a sticker until he could read the whole book by himself. He cheated a little by memorizing the pages instead of actually reading the words, but by the end of it he was really getting the hang of sounding out simple words. It took him just over 3 months to work his way through the 12 books in the set. A turning point happened when we let him type into a Microsoft Word Doc one day. We realized he was willing to really sound out the words if he got to push the letters on the keyboard. Something clicked into place, and he went through the rest of the box pretty quickly after that. He still likes typing on the computer, but prefers our phones because they have "memojis" (emojis) 😜

A very proud Elliot posing in front of his completed sticker chart

The much anticipated Baskin Robbins trip. Naturally, he picked the grossest flavor offered. 

 We then ordered the second set of Bob Books. Elliot plowed through the entire box in FIVE DAYS. This kid is on fire! He can read any three letter word that follows the normal letter sound rules. Teaching him how to read has renewed my frustration over the crazy number of exceptions to every single rule in the English language. We are trying to find a segue between the super simple sentences with only 2 or 3 letter words to the more complicated beginner books at the library. 

Anyway, his reward for Bob Books Set 2 was a family pizza movie night. We watched Coco and had a jolly good time. It has been so fun watching Elliot swell with pride every time he reads a book all by himself!

In other literary news, Annie likes to steal toys from other babies at the library story time.