Swimming Update

Today ended Caleb's first month of swim lessons, and so much has changed. Caleb went from crying, screaming, and dreading swim lessons to loving them. It took a little while, but by the third week of class, Caleb was looking forward to going to the Y to swim. In fact, he kept asking when he could go again.

Caleb has had a great attitude about going to class each time and has been learning a lot. He has a new pair of goggles that he loves wearing. He likes going underwater to retrieve a weighted ring off the stairs. His confidence has grown a ton. We are really proud of the progress Caleb has made. He will be doing lessons for the next few months, and we are looking forward to him continuing to improve.

Thanks to Aunt Bev who took these cute pictures of Caleb at swim class this week.

Let the Wild Rumpus Start! (Eli's 1st Birthday Party)

Today was Eli's first birthday party. He officially turned 1 yesterday. It is hard to believe that he is already a year old. In some ways, it seems like he has been with us forever, and in some ways, it feels like I was just pregnant.

Since we call Eli our little monster, I decided to do a Where the Wild Things Are theme. I made invitations that had Eli's face in Max's wolf costume. I put that same picture on a t-shirt that Eli wore. I decorated the cake with green icing, palm trees, and cardboard cutouts of Max and the wild things. We blew up some green balloons that the kids, especially Eli, really enjoyed playing with.

A lot of family and friends came to the house for the celebration. Eli was excited to see everyone and to play with his cousins.

We started with presents since we knew the cake would be messy. Eli was not as into unwrapping presents as he was at Christmas time. At Christmas, he tried unwrapping every gift he could get his hands on. I think he might have been a bit overwhelmed today. Everyone was watching, and all the big kids were trying to unwrap presents for him. He got some neat new toys that I am sure he will enjoy playing with. He also got some very cute clothes.

We did the cake next. I stripped him down to his diaper because I didn't want him to stain his Wild Things t-shirt with green icing. He took his time checking the cake out before slowly tearing it apart. He really enjoyed the cake taking some very large bites. We got some great pictures of him eating it and smiling. He ate almost the whole piece we gave him. He made a pretty good mess on himself and promptly took a bath right afterwards.

It was a fun, albeit crazy day. It is too bad that Eli won't remember this special and momentous day.

Eli Stands Tall and Caleb is Spider-Man

Today began with Eli standing up in his crib for the first time. When I went in to get him this morning, he was standing up, holding onto the railing, waiting for me to get him out of bed. Normally, he is sitting up and waits for me to lower the side rail before standing up. I always get on my knees so that we are at eye level. Then he puts his arms around my neck and pulls me close signaling his desire to get out of bed. I love when he gives me those little hugs.

Because this was a momentous occasion, I left the room for a minute to get the camera so that I could take his picture. Eli was not happy about that and proceeded to fuss. He was ready to get out of bed and get the day started. Luckily, though, he calmed down pretty quickly so I could get a cute shot of him smiling while standing up.

The day ended with Caleb as Spider-Man. He has a new obsession with Spider-Man. I am not sure what sparked the sudden interest, but maybe it is because he and Daddy have been watching the movies lately. Daddy decided that Caleb needed a Spider-Man costume, so he went looking for one. He found one, and Caleb was so excited when he got it. He immediately put it on and wore it around the house pretending to be Spider-Man. It took some coaxing, but we finally got him to take it off so that he could wear regular pajamas to bed. I have a feeling that he will be wearing the costume a lot.

Ladybug Release and More Gardening

Most of the ladybugs had emerged from their pupae, so Caleb decided that it was time to release them. He wanted them to be put on our tomato plants so that they could eat any bugs on them. I was a bit surprised that he was so anxious to release them. I thought he would want to keep them in their Lady Bug Land habitat as long as possible. It is a good thing he did want to release them as they only live 2-3 weeks in that habitat. In the wild, they can live up to a year, which is pretty long for an insect.

We did our best to put all of the ladybugs on tomato plant leaves, but some flew off and some landed in the grass. I did get a good picture of one on a tomato leaf.

After releasing our ladybugs, we added to our garden. We planted green beans, sunflowers, basil, and red poppies from seed. We are looking forward to seeing how these plants grow. If we are lucky, we will have yummy food to eat soon.

Pink Spotted Ladybugs!

Two ladybugs emerged from their pupae today. It was very exciting! It took four days for this to happen. When we discovered them, one had obviously emerged earlier in the day since his spots were clearly visible.

The other one we watched come out of his pupa.

When they first come out of the pupa, their exoskeleton is soft and their spots are not visible. They are an opaque, yellowish color. After a few hours, their exoskeleton hardens and they look like ladybugs.

Caleb wanted to hold the ladybugs, so we got them out. He enjoyed watching them crawl up and down his arm and over his fingers. Having them out of the Lady Bug Land habitat made it easier for me to get some close up pictures of them.

Eli is One Cool Dude

Eli has decided that he really likes sunglasses. He always tries to take mine off of me, but I thought he just wanted to look at them or chew on them. It turns out that he wanted to wear them. He found some of Caleb's sunglasses today and insisted on wearing them. He even tried putting them on himself, but he soon discovered that it was harder than it looked.

Our Little Puppy

Eli has taken to carrying things around the house in his mouth while crawling. His favorite things to carry are a yo yo ball, a plastic french fry, and a small water bottle. I have not been able to get a picture of the yo yo ball, but here are some pictures of him with the other two.

Ladybug Pupae

Some of the ladybugs began their pupal stage today. Others are about to become pupae. After filling up on food, they attached themselves to the walls and floor of Lady Bug Land to begin their metamorphosis. This is a picture of some who have attached themselves to the plastic dome.

This is a picture of two ladybugs becoming pupae. We found it very interesting that the outside of the pupa is initially an opaque, yellowish color. It then turns dark.

These are some pictures of a completed pupa.

It should take 4-5 days for the transformation to be complete. Then we will have some pink spotted ladybugs living in our Lady Bug Land.

Recycled Crayons

Caleb loves to color and has lots and lots of crayons. In fact, he has so many that his crayon box is overflowing and almost impossible to close. I got so tired of trying to force crayons to fit into the box that I decided we needed to do something about them. I remembered that I had seen a neat craft idea in Family Fun magazine for recycled crayons, so we tried it.

We started by finding all of the broken crayon pieces. We took the paper off, broke them into smaller pieces, and put them in molds.

Before

After

We then baked them in the oven. The crayon pieces melted together to make some really neat swirly crayons. Once baked, we let them cool for a while on the counter. The new recycled crayons came out of the molds much easier than I anticipated. The finished products were great.

Here are some things I learned while doing this:

• A number of different types of crayons can be used including cheap ones from local restaurants. I was afraid that they might not melt well together, but they did.



• You should keep a close eye on the crayons while they are baking. After the time alloted on the instructions, I noticed that some of the crayon pieces were not melting. I then baked them for a bit too long as many of the colors melted together too much.


• These crayons make great gifts. Caleb gave some out to friends and family.

Middle of the Night Homeschooling in Pajamas

One wonderful thing about homeschooling is the flexibility it provides. We can homeschool when it is most convenient for our family, and we do not have to follow a strict school schedule. Plus, you never know when a neat opportunity for learning will present itself.

Tonight was an example of this. Caleb woke up around midnight wanting a drink and to snuggle. I was watching TV, so I let him watch with me. Coincidentally, Leno had a bug expert on right then. Caleb and I watched him bring out a huge praying mantis, some beetles, and a cockroach. I figured I would put him to bed after we watched the bug guy. We both enjoyed watching the bugs and listening to the information given about each one.

Then Caleb decided he was missing Daddy and wanted to call him. Daddy was at his weekly poker game and not home yet. We called Daddy and found out he was on his way home. I decided to let Caleb stay up to see Daddy.

When Daddy came home, he brought in the mail which included a special package from Insect Lore. The box said that it needed to be opened immediately, so we did just that. Inside was the Lady Bug Land habitat and several ladybug larvae in a tube. We opened the tube and put the larvae into their new home. We were all surprised that they looked nothing like ladybugs. They were long and skinny with ridges and coloring that gave a small indication of what their hard wings would look like once they became ladybugs.

The booklet that came with the ladybugs showed pictures of their life cycle. They undergo a similar metamorphosis as butterflies with the following stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. After taking some pictures of Caleb and Daddy with the Lady Bug Land, we all finally turned in for the night.

When Caleb woke up, he immediately checked on his ladybug larvae and then drew the following pictures of the ladybug life cycle. He drew them all except for the pupa which I drew.

We are excited to learn more about ladybugs over the next few weeks.

"I am going to be a guppy!" (quote from Caleb)

Caleb started swim lessons today. Daddy and I had been talking about him learning how to swim for a long time (Daddy was a fish as a kid!), but it never seemed to work out. Caleb and I did take a parent/child swim class when he was about a year and a half old. It was a disaster. The teacher had me put him under water for a second to see how he responded. Well, he hated that! He then screamed every time we got near the pool and would scream through the whole class while we were in the pool. I think that experience scarred me a little, so I had not gone out of my way to start lessons.

When we went for his 4 year old checkup, the doctor asked if he knew how to swim, and I knew it was time to start lessons. Luckily, there is a YMCA near us that has an indoor, heated pool. Yes, I know this is Florida, but outdoor pools are much too cold this time of year. The class is two days a week, which works well with our busy schedule. I was afraid that the classes would be 4 or 5 times a week, which would have been really difficult.

Caleb was excited about the prospect of swimming, especially since he had seen an episode of Little Bill where the main character was learning to swim. The TV show talked about being a guppy, so that is what Caleb is convinced he will be once he knows how to swim. If you say that he will be a fish, he corrects you and says that he will be a guppy. He was also a bit apprehensive about going underwater.

There are two other children in his class. One of them is an old friend of his, so I was hoping that would help put him at ease. The teacher marched them out to the pool where they rinsed off in the shower before sitting down on the side of the pool. They kicked their feet until it was time for each to have a turn practing with the teacher. Caleb happily enjoyed splashing the water with his feet until it was his turn. He then proceeded to scream and cry for the rest of the half hour class.

After class, he said that he was not very brave and that he wasn't sure he wanted to continue swim lessons. I told him that I thought he was very brave because he stayed in the pool and listened to the teacher. He could have easily gotten out of the pool and run to me, but he didn't. We plan to continue the lessons for several months. Even though the first class was tough, I am confident that Caleb will be swimming like a guppy before we know it.