And a good evening to you from the Queen City, where Team Taylor has just completed a
6/1 - PRAISE REPORT!!!!! K woke up feeling GREAT and said she had NO PAIN in her ear. We didn't even have to give her ibuprofen this morning! Honestly, it's a miracle - she slept an hour longer than normal this morning (and that's WITH the nap yesterday afternoon) and woke up with a spring in her step. YAY!!!! THANK YOU, FATHER!!!!
The girls spent some time at the park this afternoon, where we learned that K has a new love: raising rolly pollies! Seriously - that girl rocks back to the house with pine cones and shows me ten - I SAID TEN - rolly pollies that she's brought home to "raise" (and by raise I mean put them in the back storage area of the trike). She LOVES them - let's them crawl all over here. A centipede even popped out of the pine cone, and she let him crawl all over her! She has a separate pine cone for them to "live in" (their house), and she feeds them leaves in the storage unit (seriously - she ran out into the rain the other day to get a "wet leaf" for them to have food and water). I am happy to report she has since freed said rolly pollies (all were still (mercifully and miraculously) alive, but rest assured this will likely become a regular thing for us. Hey, I have NO PROBLEM with a girl who doesn't fear critters. ROUGH AND TUMBLE IN THE MAKING!!!!
Also, I found out that this must have been a thing at UCUMC, as she said, "Kaveen had 9 or 10 and wouldn't share! 9 or 10! We only had 1!" So apparently, playing with these poor little critters on the bike path and the play ground was a regular thing. Hey - I'll take it. TN roots run deep. :-)The good news - K seems to be feeling MUCH better, and her appetite is finally back. She'd eaten almost nothing for the previous 5 days, but tonight she cleaned her plate again.
6/2 - K woke up this morning YANKING on her ear and saying that it feels SO much better - no pain! THANK YOU, JESUS!
And I must relate a cute Buke story: Cora LOVES books, and working from home allows me to get her out of her crib quite a few mornings. Well, when I pick her up, the FIRST THING she does is point to the book case and reach for the glider where we read. Consequently, that's become our wonderful little morning routine. We sit down (and she forces her way into the breadbasket - no leg sitting for her!), and then we read for 10-15 minutes. She loves flipping through the pages, and she's really cute when you start tickling her during "Itsy Bitsy Spider." My favorite is actually at night or anytime when we read "Pajama Time", as she will literally DANCE while sitting in my lap! She will twist from side to side during the latter part of the book when we "Pajammy to the left" - LOVE IT!
But one more thing - that girl is a BOOK BULLY! When she is ready to read, she will rock up to you book in hand, put it in your lap, do the "more" sign, and then try to climb into your lap. She never wants to stop reading, so be warned that she's gonna fuss when you transition to something else!
One more interesting thing to note with Cora - her spatial reasoning is really, really good. She's like K - an aptitude for puzzles - but I think she might be even sharper. Obviously that's impossible to know just yet, but she shape sorted quickly, and it's fascinating to watch her rotate and slide puzzle pieces to fit into the correct notch (especially in Jigsaw Pets - the Newcomb gift continues to live on). She really is good at manipulating things to make them fit, and it's fascinating to watch her in action on that front.
As for the day, I had the girls for a bit, and we had fun running some errands in the afternoon. The highlights were Run For Your Life (they had a kids station with lots of toys set up - SCORE) and then popping into REI, where they ran around, climbed onto camping gear, and "got exercise on the rock." They LOVE that place - too cute.6/3 - So we noticed some crusty drainage from K's OTHER ear this morning, and sure enough - Ashley confirmed there was fluid back there (no infection, but fluid). We definitely think the Cefdinir is keeping any infection at bay (as we were already using that for the other ear), and we've now started using the Ciprodex drops in both ears. The good news is that the original ear is still not bothering her, but she is complaining about some pain in this one. Provided there is no further draining or complaints of pain, we're gonna let her go to swim practice on Monday, albeit with the ear plugs and a swim cap to try and keep water out. We're also now instructing her that she needs to shake the water out of both ears at the end of each practice.
Unfortunately, the exhaustion from not sleeping well and the general need for comfort has yielded another side effect - K has suddenly started sucking her thumb again. Perhaps she picked it up from being at the beach with Henry (he's still sucking his thumb), but I really thought we were past it. JT told me that she'd never fully stopped at night, but now she's doing it while watching her shows again. I am making a conscious effort to pull her thumb from her mouth when I see it, and I've been clear that she can only suck her thumb when in bed at night before going to sleep (that means she can't suck it during story time). Hopefully we'll get things back where they need to be soon.And speaking of story time, we've moved to 2 stories a night for K - one is from her Kid's Bible, and the other is from the Disney book. She's really enjoying both of them, so that's great news. I love this opportunity to introduce God and the Bible to her at her level - the stories are just the right length and tone. Thank you, Father! And UCUMC for the gift. :-)
6/4 - Buke jumped for the first time ever! Admittedly, it was a max 1 cm clearance, but she definitely jumped and got both feet off the ground! She tried to do it several times, and we counted 2 or 3 successes. It was a good reminder to me that I need to be stalking her more with the camera so I can get some video of all these milestones. It feels like a new one is falling every single day!
K returned to swim lessons tonight and CRUSHED the breast stroke. Seriously - that girl was MOVING! I was really impressed (she did 2x 25 yard swims and caught the girl in front of her both times). She had the ear plugs and the swim cap in, which bothered her a bit at first (her quote: "I look ridiculous"), but by the end she was good. Also, she did a great job of shaking the water out of her ears after practice, which was a good thing.
After that it was over to the playground for an important moment - my first time laying eyes on the "rude kids." Sure enough, they were there, and despite me being there, they still kept saying "Baby swimmer" over and over. The boy (Teddy) gave up soon enough, as he was onto other things. His older sister (seven), however, was intent on following K and blocking her at every turn. It was so bizarre - insidious almost - how she would stand at the top of the slide and just wait for K and block her path. At first I told K, "they don't matter, so just ignore them." I said it loud enough they could hear, but it didn't seem to have much of an effect (K ran away from them out of the gate). But she then got the courage to walk up the stairs, and sure enough - the girl got out of the way. She would keep saying "Baby swimmer, baby swimmer, baby swimmer" over and over to K as she went down the slide, but K just kept rolling past her. The girl even walked beside her the entire time while she was putting her shoes on before leaving and said, "Baby swimmer" to her a final time. I had had enough at that point (an adult who knew her was present) and just said, "K, say bye to the girl who keeps calling you Baby Swimmer for no apparent reason."
The whole thing really set me off - the audacity of it all and how unnecessary the behavior was. I honestly didn't know what to do, and so I prayed about it in the Spirit. And as is always the case, God came through for me. God reminded me that we have to pray for our enemies, and we have to love them. We have no idea why they behave the way they do or what they are going through, but we are called to love them. And so we decided to just be nice to them going forward and that we would pray for them. Once God gave me that revelation, I instantly felt better and more at peace.
The reality - this will happen over and over as she grows up. Sometimes I'll see it. Other times I won't. And so truthfully this is a great opportunity to learn how to love those who are rude to you and to figure out what works with rude people (I hesitate to even call them bullies at this point). The reality is that K is a very sweet girl, who I think will also be athletic, beautiful, and smart (I think the same will absolutely be true of Cora, but she's still insulated), and people will try to tear her down. And while I can't control what they do, my hope is that I can cover her in prayer and teach her how to respond to those who belittle her, relying in her faith and position in Christ to set her free. It's not the way the world works, but we aren't called to be part of the world. To that end, I'm just praying for wisdom and strength from God in directing our family's steps as we navigate this brave new world.
6/5 - I was in K's room while she was getting dressed this morning, and there's no question - that girl is trimming down. It's crazy to watch, but as she's growing and exercising, her baby chub is starting to melt away. I could see tone in her legs and especially in her tummy, and her arms are definitely getting stronger. Crazy to watch them transform into little adults!
The one hiccup to the morning - K has LOTS of white gunk in her other ear now! It isn't really hurting her (at least we don't think), but it's just crazy that we can't get those ears clear! Antibiotics, Ciprodex, shaking her ears out after practice, plugs, a cap - I mean, COME ON! But as long as she's pain free and it isn't draining, she's still good to swim. Fingers crossed that continues.
Also, GREAT NEWS from the playground: so Lindsey dropped her kids at Christenbury this afternoon (Jenny was watching them while she picked up her van), and they were still at the playground when K finished swimming. Well, "rude girl" walks over and Ryann says, "That's Hope. I do gymnastics with her." She still called K a "baby swimmer," and Ryann said, "Um, her name is Kaitlyn." AWESOME. Sure enough, after that, they all played together (tag - chasing Ryann around). It was a God moment and re-emphasized the importance of having the right people in your life. Thank you, Father, for great relationships.
6/6 - Cute things from K: 1. She is finding me each morning on the screen porch praying, and she walks out and snuggles up with me for a few minutes. We watch and listen to the birds, and then we get her show going. Those few minutes - with her snuggled up against me - are just magic. 2. She is getting really good at making a heart with her hands to say "I love you," and I love it when she runs upstairs before she leaves and gives me the "heart" from the door - too cute. Love you, too kiddo.
Cute things from C: 1. She is walking on her toes all the time now - hilarious! Not exactly the picture of grace just yet, but you can tell she is enjoying a) using those muscles and b) feeling taller (albeit out of control). 2. We think she is now saying "walk" and "bye bye," as she has a consistent syllable for each and says them when grabbing shoes and leaving/waving, respectively.
The afternoon was filled with a Kate playdate, and then it was off to swim team for Team pictures (no practice tonight). K was positioned right by Teddy! But the good news - they seemed to get along fine. :-)
6/7 - Some GREAT news from the playground: Hope and Kaitlyn actually "played" together tonight! I mean, played is a relative term, but apparently her mom was out there as well, and when she saw Hope swimming and K waiting, she told Hope to let her have a turn. After that, they stood there and talked about mosquito bites. So while it's not exactly playing tag or sharing life stories, it's progress! JT saw her when she arrived and said, "Hi, Hope! How are you?" I think that shocked her, as her and K traded sideways glances (so I'm told). Honestly, this whole thing has just been such a great lesson in dealing with other kids. I have learned a ton and am thankful a) for the experience and b) that I've got such a terrific wife who was smart enough to be still and wait for prayer to do its thing in teaching us how to observe situations like this. 
Also, some exciting news - JT turned in the paperwork for Bradford Prep today! That means it's official - K is officially ENROLLED!!!!! SUCH A BLESSING - THANK YOU, FATHER!!!!! We are really, really excited. 6/8 - So this is random, but Cora has now started sucking on her fingers (not thumb - her index and middle finger). I don't see it a lot - usually just when she's getting a diaper change - but I want to monitor it, as I've heard of other kids doing this (and it would in essence jack up her grill as if she sucked her thumb). K is still sucking hers at night, but she's definitely catching herself during shows and story time now and NOT doing it. It's cute - she'll almost do it, catch herself, and then just hold her fist up to her lips with her thumb tucked away. PROUD OF YOU, KIDDO!
6/9 - Today was a big day for Team Taylor: K's first ever swim meet! We went into this having absolutely NO IDEA what to expect, but I'm happy to report that it went very well and was a BLAST.K is part of the Junior team, and there are several aspects about this that we really like:
1. Every kid gets a chance to swim all 4 strokes (just a 25).
2. There are no stroke judges - it's all about getting to the wall.
3. Everybody cheers for everybody - doesn't matter what team, person, or event. Everyone is in it together.
4. The kids get a ribbon at the end of each stroke and their time recorded. Instead of heats and podiums, all competition is against just yourself and is all about just besting your previous time.
These are called "Speedy Meets," and it was GREAT - only took 1 hour! K got to swim all 4 strokes, turning in the following:
1. Freestyle: 58.154 (beat 60 seconds - WAY TO GO!!!!!)
2. Backstroke: 1:26.798 (girl was EXHAUSTED less than halfway through but kept fighting for that wall! She was looking back over her shoulder well before the flags but she persevered!)
3. Breast stroke: 1:28.62 (quite possibly her best and most natural stroke - really cool to see how quickly she's picked this one up. She actually jumped into the pool before the horn (false start), but the timer just yelled, "Go ahead - everyone get after it!" Too cute.
4. Fly (yes - they actually tried to do the FLY!): 1:32:09 (K REALLY tried hard on this one, and I was really impressed. While her technique obviously isn't great, she tried really hard to keep her dolphin kick moving and her legs together. It was so cool to watch her doing the correct arm motions! Admittedly, she did stop to wave at us a few times, but I digress - it was still awesome).
Bottom line - it was fun, and she did great. I think it was a little odd for her at the start, as she didn't know what do to between swims. However, Allison (Kate's older sister) was great to go over to her and chat with her between sets, which definitely helped. I think the ear plugs make it tough as well, as the world is so much softer than normal. By the end, however, she seemed happy. Cora, however, did NOT love the event. She wanted in that water so badly! At one point we were cheering for K and almost missed Buke jumping headlong into the pool! We were able to feed her a bit to keep her pacified, but had that meet been any longer, we'd have really struggled with her (mainly because she wanted to play).
We then rolled over to the playground for a bit before doing family swim for 40 minutes or so at Prosperity. That afternoon it was down South for a graduation party, and K had a BLAST playing in the bonus room with lots of other kids. Oh, and all the desserts and chips were a hit as well. :-) It was a late night for Team Taylor, as we didn't get home until 7:30! However, thanks to JT moving like a Hurricane (the 2 minute bath was AMAZING), we had both kids down before 8! Buke was asleep on my while I rocked her - that girl has just been passing out almost INSTANTLY lately. Between the heat and all the activity, she's worn OUT by the end of a day!
6/10 - K and Cora were EXHAUSTED this morning and didn't get up until 7:30 (same was true for us!), but then the day was flat out. We picked up Ryann about 8:40 and headed over to FH, where the service was a blast and the girls then had a wonderful time at the "Out of School Bash." They ate snow cones, slid down slides (in each other's laps - it was seriously cute), bounced in bounce houses, and chased bubbles (Buke LOVED the bubbles). Cora really wanted to get into the bounce house and actually tried it at one point when only 1 other kid was in there...and then promptly started BAWLING when she couldn't stand up.
The afternoon was a whirlwind, starting with 1 hour at NOMAD. K and JT did some diving work (K is making progress), and I swam in the cold pool and the warm pool with Cora (with a noodle tied around her). She did really, really good kicking her legs, splashing, and blowing bubbles. I was very proud of her! K was swimming like a fish (so fast), and her cannonball is exceptional off the block :-) (Buke loved watching her jump and getting splashed in the face).
Dinner that night was impromptu Mexican at Ashley and Zach's, and it was a blast. We had about 3 hours there, and Cora loved playing with a stroller they had (K was content to play in the bonus room with Oliver). The food was good, and everyone had fun - a perfect end to the evening. What a weekend!
6/11 - K's schedule flipped this morning, as she started morning swim practice (8-8:30). It was then off to Mommy & Me at CFA. The biggest event, however, was at 4:30 - the start of the new level of gymnastics at Fun2BFit! I got to drive her and witness the first ever installment. It was really, really cool to watch, and I think it's gonna be a GREAT experience. For starters, the class is now 1 hour. Secondly, it's a smaller class - about 8 girls total. Third, they actually got up on the bar (first time I'd seen that) - K even did a full flip, landing on her bum! It was so cute to watch, and I when she landed, she looked up and saw that I was looking. It was a GREAT moment between us.
Oh, and K's quote of the night came when Jenny went to pee: "I'm gonna watch mommy urinate!" I mean, how bad must we be at this parenting thing? :-)
On the Cora front, let's just go ahead and say it - that girl is COMPLETELY obsessed with her mother at the moment. She says and reaches for "mama" every second of the day - be it when she wakes up and I enter the room first (how dare I), when I put her down for bed (and she stays in with K to do her hair), and all the other waking moments in between. If I pick her up, she'll say "mama" and then reach for her, fighting me like I'm dragging her to the gulag. When Jenny picks her up, she'll smile and then snuggle into her immediately, putting her head on her shoulder. COME ON! I HAVE FEELINGS!!!!! I'M A PERSON, TOO!!!!! :-) Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuust kidding. Seriously - it's hilarious and super cute, and I know Jenny's loving it. Cora's frumpy face when she can't see Jenny is becoming the stuff of legends, and I am so happy they have such a tremendous bond.
6/12 - So the day started off with an inauspicious beginning. I drove K to swim practice, and we had about 5 min to kill before it kicked off. K wanted to go to the playground, and she hung on the monkey bars a couple of times, dropping to the mulch (controlled) whenever she was tired. I didn't realize that she'd never done this (in JT's presence or otherwise), so I just assumed this was a normal thing for her. Oops...
So 7:59 rolls around, and I tell her it's time to get her bag and head to the pool. She asks to do it one more time, and I say sure. I turn around - literally have taken my eyes off her for 1.5 seconds - when I hear a BLOOD CURDLING SCREAM. I turn around and K is on the ground, on her knees, and bawling crying. I try to figure out what happened, but she's a mess - covered in mulch, saying something about hitting her head, snot running out of her nose, and then complaining about her foot (which I took to mean ankle - must have rolled it). She was fairly inconsolable, and I had to make a choice - either sympathize or give her the "suck it up, buttercup" speech. Predictably, I chose the latter.
Here's the deal - I am trying to find ways to make my girls tough (I think Cora will be much easier on that front than K), and more to the point - you never really know when K is injured vs. faking. Kaitlyn - you will read this in 30 years and likely want to punch me in the throat, but let me just say it for the avoidance of doubt - when you were 5, you were a whiner with a very low threshold for pain (ostensibly, at least). However - once I said, "if you can't walk, then you can't go to Carowinds. Do you want to cancel?", K perked up considerably. She survived swim team practice and then walked around Carowinds ALL DAY without complaining once to Jenny (this, dear friends and family, is what I expected and why I didn't offer much sympathy). She didn't mention it the rest of the evening either, which tells me a) it probably did hurt at the time, b) she really did get a little injured, and c) as long as her mind is elsewhere, it's fine.
The day at Carowinds was GREAT - all the girls (all 7 of them :-) had a blast, and Cora fell asleep in the car 10 minutes before arriving at home. I stepped out to greet them in the garage and learned that K now has a wiggly tooth! She is LOVING wiggling it - even asked me to do it as well (it's definitely loose). Not sure when it's going to drop, but K already knows that when it does the Tooth Fairy is coming!
On the Cora front, that girl actually climbed into the bath by herself for the first time ever tonight! And the funniest part - JT was right there watching it, and Cora actually climbed in with her clothes on! Picture a head first fosbury flop into the tub - the girls were cackling. K and Cora were both laughing in hysterics the entire bath - tickling each other, talking to each other, and then just cackling. It was a sweet, wonderful moment to watch.
One other thing to note - we think that, at present, Cora is a bit pigeon-toed. It's much more pronounced in shoes than in bare feet (and we're by no means worried about it yet), but it's definitely noticeable. We've been watching it for the past several months, but even Cheryl noted it during their day at Carowinds. Typically it sorts itself out over the next few years of life, so there's nothing we're planning to do now (other than mention it to the Peds, of course). And let's face it - it's certainly not slowing that child down! She is a runner!
6/13 - K woke up with some foot/ankle pain this morning and said that practice yesterday hurt her foot (they did a lot of kicking with the kick board). She said it still hurt this morning, but I think a lot of that is a by-product of all the walking yesterday at Carowinds (this happened to her in Ft. Worth after a full day at the zoo). Truth be told, kids shoes (especially hand me downs) aren't great, and we think that contributed more than anything to the pain.
She said swim practice didn't hurt as bad this time, which is a good sign that things are on the mend. Plus, she gets the next 2 days off (they are in Raleigh), which should give her some good healing time.
Before Raleigh, however, we did have one more big activity for the day - our tour of Bradford Prep! I had never actually seen the building before - WAY bigger than I expected, and they are doing a terrific job moving forward with a lot of the facility builds - especially those most important to me (playground this fall, gym next fall). It looked way better (and bigger) than CIS, and while I wasn't as impressed with the building as I was with Highland Creek elementary, I did like the design (lots of natural lighting, lots of courtyards, all hallways are outside, etc). Jenny really liked the feel of the place, and perhaps my reticence was based more on having a "brick and mortar (literally)" school house as my expectation. However, there are plenty of positives that I absolutely can't ignore:1. Spanish starts in kindergarten and can be taken all the way through. This is the langue that matters most to me, and I like the fact that they start early.
2. They are very much "paper and pencils" K-4. At first this surprised me, but when they explained their logic (and the options starting in 5th grade), I felt much better. Bottom line - they start typing and basic computing in 5th grade and then start web design - yes, WEB DESIGN - in 6th grade. I mean, WHAT!?!?!?!
3. Kids get outside 2x daily - 40 min of PE and 40 min of recess. They are building a new athletic field (turf!) that will be ready this fall (along with the playground).
4. No homework until 5th grade - I LOVE THIS AND AGREE WITH IT 100% BOOM.
5. They have an accelerated track starting in 5th grade to get kids taking high school classes one year early. I am hopeful the girls will qualify for this and can start knocking off pre-reqs to hopefully start taking college level courses early.
6. Love the sports options (starting in middle school).
7. Hot lunch program is available for purchase - could be a fun treat.
8. Afterschool programs (should we want to use them) include music (violin and other instruments) and martial arts!
9. They spend 6 months teaching all kids the recorder and then 6 months teaching violin in 4th grade. I mean, how cool is that?
10. It's not a NUT FREE school - Yay, yay - PBJ!
11. Music and Art every week - that is good stuff.
Bottom line - I am very excited about it, and K is as well. I think it will be even better for Cora (who has no idea how lucky she is that she'll get in by virtue of the sibling lottery :-)). K was a little distracted at first (was hobbling around, whining and pouting a bit, and asking me to carry her), but when we got to the back courtyard and she saw stuff to run after and chase, she was in much better spirits. Funny how that works, eh? She even asked if I wanted to have a race down the hallway!This girls left from there bound for Raleigh, and they arrived in good spirits at 3:45. It was a quiet night for this guy, but I made it count as a bachelor. :-)
Oh, and K watched "The Emoji Movie" on the drive up - sounds like it was cute. She must like it, as we're already watching it again as her "show" before meal time. :-)
6/14 - JT and the girls had a great day in Raleigh - Jenny said they didn't even leave the house or get out of their PJ's! The cute story - James is still taking naps, and K said she wanted to go "take a nap with James" when it was time for him to go up (if you'll recall, K hasn't napped in at least 2 years...). Well, sure enough, they did NOT nap. Instead, they just chatted away, with K telling James "If we talk quietly, they'll think we're asleep." I know you learned that from Samantha Rice, young lady! 
The funniest part - Kim and JT could hear everything because they had the monitor on. Well, at one point there was a loud noise, and when James asked what it was, K replied: "Monsters." I mean...WHAT?!?!?!?!? When in the WORLD have we ever said that? So suddenly James was scared of the monsters, leaving Kimmy to do damage control by speaking into the monitor and assuring him that there were not, in fact, monsters in his room. 6/15 - The girls got over to Pullen Park today, where Cora rode the Carousel for the first time ever! It was hot, but the girls had fun (and even managed some ice cream). The quote of the day: James has this little stuffed leopard, and K was holding it for the drive to the park. She said, "I named him leppy - it's like leprosy!" I mean, that girl really does love the story of Naaman - more on that in a bit.
They girls got home about 4, and by 4:30 K was already at the windows by the door waiting for Vol Nana. Luckily I called and confirmed she wasn't coming until closer to 6, as K would have just sat there the entire time! She was SO EXCITED about Vol Nana's arrival, but we did manage to move her focus over with an hour of tumbling monkeys (we have been playing that a lot lately). Vol Nana rolled in about 6:15 or so, and from that moment on K didn't leave her side. :-) They had a good 90 minutes or so that evening, culminating with a highlight for me - watching mom read Bible stories to K.
We've been reading Bible stories to K for a few weeks now, and it's really been amazing to watch. At first, K got a Bible story and then a Disney story. Now, however, she ONLY wants Bible stories. How cool is that? So every night we let her pick - Old Testament or New Testament. I could tell that she was really starting to learn the stories and the people, but what happened with mom was really neat.
Mom was reading her the story of Jairus, and she got to the point where Jesus tells the little girl to wake up. Well, K says, "Say the Spanish version, Vol Nana." Mom didn't realize what she meant, but I knew she was asking her to quote the Aramaic that I always do: "Talitha cumi." K then says, "It means little child, arise." I was so proud!
Mom then read her the story of Jonah. Before she started, I asked K where God wanted to send Jonah, and K says, "Go to Ninevah!" without missing a beat. That girl is learning! And let me tell you - my mom's mind was blown. :-)
6/16 - We drove to the Hamptons for K's first ever away swim meet today. It was super hot, but Cora was actually much better this go-around (having another set of hands certainly helped!). The car ride over was priceless - Vol Nana rode with me and Kaitlyn, and K got to drop "Despacito" and "Thunder" on her. K ROCKED the lyrics, and her changes in inflection while singing Thunder had my mom in hysterics. Too cute. "Not a yes, SIR! Not a follow-ER!"
K's first event was freestyle. She entered the water cleanly and really had GREAT form for the first 5-6 strokes. However, her goggles soon filled up with water (she hadn't secured them properly before jumping in - the coach actually had to remind her to put them on right before she jumped in. She tried valiantly to get the water out on two separate occasions, but you could tell there was no way she was going to clear them. So there she was, 8 yards into a 25 yard swim, frustrated, ready to cry, unsure of what to do, and looking at me. I cheered her on and encouraged her to just get to the wall with her head above water, which she did (the whole crowd was great - they all cheered for her). She made it, popped out of the water, and looked ready to cry. She said she didn't like those goggles and was really upset (which I get). However, she rallied after that, turning in 2 PR's in her next 2 races (back and breast). And while her time was the same as last week on the Fly, her form was GREAT - she never broke form once! 
When it was all over, I bragged on K for a) keeping her wits about her and gutting out the free, b) her great job getting faster in the middle events, and c) for focusing on form and never breaking during the lap. She really, really does work hard on her form and tries to do things right vs. just giving up and doing the Otter Swim, which makes me super proud. It was then over to Cafe 100, where I was treated to a wonderful Father's Day lunch! We then headed home, where K and JT changed and then rolled to a pool party while mom, Cora, and I stayed back at the house - they had a BLAST!
And speaking of Cora, I think that girl is on the verge of a linguistic explosion! She is really starting to play with language, stringing together increasingly longer groups of syllables and even saying new combinations of letters. You can tell that in some cases she's really trying to say words, which is just so amazing to watch. Very cool!It was another great evening. Cora went down without a PEEP, and K got to bed about 8:30. Vol Nana was her "protector" during tickling, and it was cute. K was laughing so hard, and her smile was so big - that sweet laugh and her saying, "Daddy, I need to tell you 'somefling' - I'm serious!!!" is one of the best parts of my day.
6/17 - FATHER'S DAY!!!!!! My 6th Father's Day - how is that even possible?!?!?! I returned home from a terrific run to find a sweet little card from my girls and another one of Jenny's epic "year in review plaques" from Snapfish - LOVE IT!!! As always, JT did a masterful job, and the photos brought back so many terrific memories.
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| Anticipating Vol Nana... |
We had attended church the night before, meaning the day was truly ours. JT was serving with FH Kids, so we rolled over to the Sweet Spot for a DELISH breakfast. We spent the afternoon chilling, with Vol Nana and K in the playpen (not kidding - that thing really has found new life...as an oasis from Cora!) playing the Hatchimal game. We also got 5 rounds of tumblin' monkeys (K won all 5 - legit!). 
However, the time that we knew would arrive - the departure of my mom - did come, and that definitely changed the energy in the house. K tried to be brave (tongue out, fighting back tears, staring at me unblinking, barely clinging to serenity), but the poor girl just broke down. She loves her SO much, and she just misses her terribly when she's not here. She watched her leave and then proceeded to sit at the window for a good 30 minutes, crying out "Vol Nana" when she could actually get the words out between sobs. JT just held her and cried as well. It was tough.We did eventually rally, but K and Cora were both tired, hot, and generally fussy by the end of the night. However, JT cooked an AMAZING meal for me, AND we polished off 2 growlers from 26 acres, so rest assured I had a terrific evening.
I will be honest - as I type this, I am absolutely exhausted. I'm not sure if it's the heat, all the activities we've got going, all the exercise I'm doing (which is ramping up), the limited sleep (mom woke me up the first night at 1:40, and then K was in our room at 5:39 unable to go back to sleep), but right now I feel like I am struggling on multiple levels. I feel very good about my prayer circle around the kids, but at the moment I'm having trouble talking to K. She doesn't seem to want to say much to me (meaning she never wants to tell me about her day), she and Cora both beg for Jenny to drive them (vs. me), bathe them, put on lotion, and pretty much everything else. And don't get me wrong, I LOVE the fact that these girls are giving her tons of (much deserved and appropriate) attention. I'm just not sure how to continue bonding and connecting with them. When K does speak to me, she's usually telling me something I've done wrong (missed a word in the prayer, didn't do something exactly to the letter as I said, etc), and the cumulative effect of it has been a slow retreat away from engaging her in conversation. I always try to when I come down between calls or when she gets home, but it's been less than fruitful lately. Case in point - tonight after gymnastics I asked her what all they worked on. She said, "I don't want to tell you." As she had already stonewalled everything else I'd asked about that day save a little bit re: VBS, I pretty much gave up and just listened to music. This was after a Father's Day where she spent all afternoon holding up an X to my face but giving everyone else the heart symbol (which is typically our little symbol). I know it's all fine - it's just tough at the moment. 
6/18 - After a really good swim practice this morning (K went HARD and did a great job on her strokes - that girl DOES NOT break form during practice!), K started the featured camp of the week - Vacation Bible School at Assurance! The theme was "Jonah and a Whale of a Tale" - awesome since that's one of her favorite stories!
JT said that K really, really enjoyed it (she wouldn't really tell me much, but she did tell JT quite a bit), and they even gave her a Christian CD filled with songs that she LOVES. She's already started memorizing the lyrics to a few - too cute! Counting teachers and volunteers, there are 550 folks involved in this effort - it's quite a Production.
And the cutest thing to report: K is now coaching Cora to speak. She will ask her to say all her words (and sign the ones she can't say) and then have her point to all her different body parts. Cora has such cute little expressions for each body part (closing her eyes, biting her teeth), and today she correctly identified her neck, arm, and forehead for the first time ever. Too cool! Way to go Munchkin (for the instruction) and Nugget (for learning!)6/19 - Today was another great day at VBS. Kaitlyn got to go "in the belly of a whale!" The afternoon was 4+ hours at Clarke Creek pool, as Jenny met Katie and Lindsey for lunch (12:30-3ish) and then had an afternoon play date with Ashley (3-4:50ish). As you can expect, K was EXHAUSTED!
Also, some exciting news - after a 4+ month hiatus, K returned to her Amazon Fire tablet today! I had to charge it ALL DAY (it was dead and needed both upgrades and system optimization), but the good news - K now has Alexa to play with. Very cool for her - she LOVES it! K has found a love for the Shopkins run again, and I am happy to report that she's graduated to the next level! She has gone from being an apple to Popcorn - big news around these parts. :-)6/20 - Cora is now signing "Thank You!" It's actually really, really cute - K is now telling her "Cora say (insert word here)," and then she does it! The progression is normally:
1. Mama
2. Gaga
3. More (signed)
4. Please (signed)
5. Yes (nods head)6. No (shakes head)
7. Yay - she says it and throws both hands in the air - LOVE IT!
I am happy to report that the girls have played together really well as of late. The other day K and Cora went into the powder room together, closed the door, and played for probably 20+ minutes! It's funny, the powder room has become this sacred space for a lot of play dates. The other day I went in there after Kate was over, and there were probably 50 toys in there - it was tough to even open the door and walk in! Oh well - at least the toilet is easily accessible!
One other thing to note about Cora - she's really improving on identifying stuff. She understands SO MUCH and is really good at nonverbal communication. She has been signing milk to me a lot, and if I don't notice (or don't understand) what she's trying to say, she'll walk to the fridge (or wherever) and pound on the object that indicates what she's after (she does this to her high chair anytime she's hungry). Amazing!
Today was a wonderful day for all the girls. Kate came over for a play date, and so we got the kiddie pool in the back yard and even pulled out the doggy sprinkler! It was awesome to watch the girls running around and playing, and the tree in the backyard provided some fantastic shade for them. For my part, I absolutely LOVE IT whenever we can use every facet of the house, so use of the backyard was a plus for me. Proud of wife muffin for making it happen!6/22 - Today marked the end of VBS at Assurance, and can I just say WOW - those folks did an AMAZING job. I was so impressed with everything, and K absolutely LOVED her time there. She also loved riding home with the McLaren's, so it was a treat from door to door.
K made a big switch this evening - she switched from ACT to Kid's Listerine! K did say it was "a little spicy," but she said "But that's okay, because it tastes just like bubble gum!"
Oh, and you know how I told you that Cora loves to just flip through board books as fast as she possibly can? Well there is an exception to that - the prayer book for Children! Amazing, honestly - this was K's book, and she never had ANY interest in it. Cora, however, will actually sit there as we read through quite lengthy prayers - it's amazing! JT has been using it to teach her lots of different pictures - clouds, the sun, trees, stars, etc. And sure enough - Cora can now identify them! So cool to watch her learn.
Granddaddy came for the weekend, and we started things off at 26 acre brewing. K got all the popcorn she can handle and got to pet multiple puppies, so life was good. She also walked over with a Monopoly board and dropped it (it was upside down in her hands), which meant about 5 billion dollars in fake money, hotels, and plenty of other assorted game paraphenalia scattered all over the place. Good times.
Bed time that night was a bit later (we grilled out as a fam) - a terrific evening in the books.
6/23 - K had a "Speedy Meet" at Wynfield today, and I am THRILLED to report that she absolutely CRUSHED IT!!!!! Seriously - 4 PR's!!!!! EVERY SINGLE DISTANCE WAS AN IMPROVEMENT! And not only that, her form was noticeably better in each stroke - I was so proud of her! Granddaddy really enjoyed it as well - he took lots of photos and cheered her on the whole time.
We had lunch at Cafe 100 before K went off to a birthday party (Brennan turned 6!) and I went home with Dad and Cora (nap time...for both of them as it turned out... :-)). K had a BLAST at the birthday party - even came home with a water gun (which she's been shooting upstairs in the bonus room). She's also been launching these toy chickens she got for $1 at Target at the ceiling - they stick, which means I am constantly on a step ladder to get them back down. but hey - it's cheap entertainment, so I'm not complaining. :-)
We hit Primal for a bit in the afternoon, where it was more popcorn (poor Cora got a little piece in her throat which JT had to knock out - she was breathing okay, but clearly not happy during the extraction), more puppies, and some time on the tablet for K. Then it was back home for pizza before calling it a night around 10 or so (girls were in bed before that, obviously).
6/24 - JT woke up sick today, poor thing, so we had to keep her quarantined from the rest of the family. The girls were really good all day, starting with church (where K got ANOTHER snow cone!). We then rolled over to Lowe's to get some bug spray, and they were troopers. We didn't do a ton during the evening (all three of them actually took a nap during the afternoon), but I did take them to NOMAD for a swim. K was GREAT - she was swimming laps in the cold pool, jumping off the blocks (getting further and further!), and just entertaining herself. She's really improving her endurance (and doesn't even realize it - BEAUTIFUL). Buke, on the other hand, was quite the challenge. She was GREAT out of the gate - first 20+ min in the cold pool in the float (smile on her face the whole time). However, she then decided she wanted to go to the warm pool, and she basically was climbing out of the float to get there. Once I got her there, she was pretty much non-stop on the ramp, which is fine until she hits 3 1/2 feet, at which point she goes under and drinks 5 gallons of chlorinated, pee filled water. Anytime you tried to help her, she would shake her head and wave her hands for you to get away - the end result being you had to catch her at the last second before she went under. She did finally mellow and started jumping off the side (and letting me catch her) - but she was NOT happy when I tried to direct her activities.
Today was also Cora's 18 month appointment! I am THRILLED to report that everything looked great. She's 50% in height, 70% in weight, and 40% in head circumference (but there's still a HUGE brain in there). Dr. Knutson said that she should have 8 words + mama/dada at this point, but obviously she wasn't concerned. Truthfully, Cora does a great job communicating (mostly in sign language, of course), and some of it does depend on how you score "what counts as a word." I mean, let's face it - she grows every time she sees a dog (ok, it's more of an oink sound, but still), can say "uh-oh" whenever she sees a band-aid (and when she sees Jenny with a band-aid, Cora looks heartbroken and like she's about to cry because her mom might be in pain - so sweet), and "yay!" whenever K tells her to (and throws her arms up, for the record!), so that has to count for something, right? But technically I don't think I can score "A-BA!" as a word since she uses it for just about everything else. :-) The doctor also asked how many blocks she could stack, and we admittedly that we hadn't even thought to introduce that yet. But sure enough, JT was at it IMMEDIATELY at dinner that evening - complete with K helping to assist in instruction! Stay tuned for weekly block stacking reports... :-)
At gymnastics tonight, K did her first ever hand stand (with help from Mr. Frank, of course)! She also showed me her "pivot." She's really enjoying gymnastics, and I do like the new stuff they are doing and the individual attention that she's getting in this level. Also, she's definitely getting stronger and making some new friends, so it's a win across the board at this point.
During snack time in the afternoon, there was apparently a SUPER GROSS moment where Buke puked in her high chair while eating cheese. I missed all this since I was uptown, and I gotta say...I wasn't heartbroken about that.
Side note about going uptown - I'm currently interviewing for a new job, and it will require me to be in an office 3-4 days a week. While I realize that will be a huge life change for me and a big shift for the family as well, I have to say that I think it's really going to be a wonderful change on the whole for us. I can already tell that, when I have that separate from work and home, I am a better father to the girls - I am happier, I am more focused, and I really enjoy that focused time with them. I've always said I'm a better dad in controlled bursts, and I think this new opportunity will give me that. However, as more proof that things happen in God's perfect timing - it likely won't be offered until the end of July (and so not started until mid-to late August), meaning that I'll get all summer with my girls before K starts kindergarten (which was gonna be a whole crazy new schedule anyway). THANK YOU, FATHER!!!! 
JT said that K and Cora actually played in the bathroom together for 20+ minutes again today with the door shut. They are really playing GREAT together right now - it's so awesome! I mean, I don't necessarily love 497 toys in the bathroom, but as long as I don't pee on anything, we should be fine.
I will say that I was thrilled to arrive home this evening to see that Kaitlyn had actually VACUUMED HER OWN ROOM!!!!! It's awesome - we'd been talking about new chores for $$$ in the fall, and we'd landed on 3 (each worth $1 apiece a week):
1. Emptying the dishwasher anytime it was clean
2. Putting clothes away once folded
3. Cleaning and drying the area around the table after dinner
Well, we can now add vacuuming to that list - AWESOME. Way to go, Munchkin! Thing 1 and Thing 2 are growing up so fast!6/27 - Today was the Highland Creek Swim-a-thon. Technically we were supposed to pledge based on the # of laps, but we just wrote a check. The cool thing - I watched K do 2 laps, and she was AWESOME at butterfly! I was SO PROUD AND IMPRESSED! Turns out, she actually did 10 laps in 30 minutes - that's GREAT! Really, really proud of you, Goose!
With only 2 more practices and 1 more speedy meet to go, I will say that I'm thrilled we did swim team this year. While it was a little rocky out of the gate, K made some new friends, improved all 4 strokes, and tremendously improved her endurance. That has been the coolest thing to watch - she is unquestionably a much stronger swimmer than she was when this whole thing started. Money well spent! Plus we've even made some new friends, which has been really cool. Hopefully we'll see some of the same faces again next year, as it would be good to continue building those relationships. It gives you so much more of a sense of community when you see folks you recognize in the various villages. |
| Froggy Potty's back!!!! |
6/29 - So today was supposed to be a strong farewell - the last day of swim practice. That plan, however, did NOT materialize. Instead, K came into our room about 6:45 and told us that she'd come in there about 4:30 and tried to wake JT to tell he that she'd puked in her room. Sub-optimal.
K ended up throwing up about 3 times (all before 8 AM), and so we unfortunately had to hold her back from her last swim practice. I hated it, but given that we had a week on the road in TN upcoming, the key goal was to get her healthy. As the day wore on, it was clearly the right move, as both she and I started going south and basically just crashed. Our stomachs hurt, we had no energy, and we basically just looked like death warmed over. It was early to bed for both of us that night. The good news - Buke seemed to still have plenty of energy and was in great spirits, so that was definitely a win. 
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| BEST. PHOTO. EVER. |
It was then home for some tumbling monkeys and eating everything left in the house before our time away. A great evening, and a wonderful end to the sixth month in this epic 2018.
It's early July as I type this, and the "I'm behind on the blog" feeling is stalking me at the moment. That being said, I do at least want to just call out again how INCREDIBLE this first half of the year has been - truly the best year of my life. And when I think about what's already on the docket for the second half, I just cannot WAIT to see what God has in store for this family. Whatever that may be, I know that it will be exceedingly and abundantly more than anything I could ever ask or imagine. God is good - ALL. THE. TIME.
That's all the news that's fit to print - chat with you next month!
Love,
Sam and Jenny
