Swimming

You may recall that Sebe and I met in a swim program, so it’s only fitting that one of Blake’s first set of lessons be swimming. He’s been in ½ hour private swim lessons for a few months and can now swim independently across a pool. This is great, since it means that he can get himself safely to the wall after coming down a water slide.  We are pretty psyched about his swimming progress.  And he actually seems to enjoy it.  There was a lot of crying on the way to the first few lessons; in those situations, I would allow him to not go, but he had to go in and tell the teacher that he didn’t want to swim.  By the time the suit was on and he saw the water, he wanted to be in, so we have never missed a lesson.

Here is a video of him swimming his first lap (that’s what his teacher is about to say before I unfortunately shut off the camera).

And here are some pictures of our other future swimmer.  Gavin loves the water too.  One time, he went directly from the car, into the swim area and into the pool, shoes and all!  He had to go home wrapped in my jacket.  What a character.

Anyone needing a Gavin update?

I just can't resist posting another guest entry from Grandmother B.  She spent a couple of hours with Gavin this afternoon, while Sebe and Blake went to a live performance for kids, "Toying with Science."  She captures quite wonderfully how little baby Gavin is turning into little boy Gavin.

"Being with delightful Gavin was the highlight of today as he is filled with laughs and allows me the luxury of pure joy. For fun, here's the recap on our play time together. At lunch he ate a bite of all foods on your list and spooned in yogurt on his own. Like B, he says, "mmmmmmmmm" if he thinks some food is going to taste good and then again when it does. The Banilla yogurt got the "mmmmmmmm". Then we threw and rolled the yellow ball, played with a couple of toys, read books not quite as rapidly as he turned pages, played tag for almost 20 mins. and when he couldn't find me because I'd hide in the bathroom, he'd stand still and call out "Bah! Bah!" So I'd let him find me and he'd run into my legs to be swept up for a hug and sometimes a tickle. Then we sang at the piano. He wouldn't sit on my lap but only beside me; he wanted to play the bass notes. He bounced his body in rhythm while we both sang different tunes simultaneously. I made up a Gavin song. As he pulled out the alphabet zipper book, he heard the outside door open. I said, "Who could that be?" He waited quietly and when he saw Blake appear, a sweet, great big grin opened; he loves his brother. Dad gave me a goodbye and thanks. Gavin, on his own, walked me to the door, said "Bye, bye" and blew me a kiss gaining him another B hug. Good manners come from good parents and you both are good ones!"

Monday afternoons with Grandmother B

Nearly every Monday afternoon, Blake goes for "special time with B."  He and Grandmother B (Bitsy) play it by ear -- sometimes it's playdough, sometimes they go to the library, often they read books and discover a whole new topic.  This blog entry is directly from Grandmother B about her time with Blake last Monday:

"Here is an eel video that Blake wanted to view on Monday when couldn't get online. That's okay because instead we read books! We read about eels coming from the Sargasso Sea. Where is that, he asked? So we went to the bookshelves downstairs at Grandmother B's house. We pulled out the atlas and said  that new word a few times.

In native Utah dialogue, one might  hear a preposition dangle such as, "Where's it at"...so maybe that's a good way to remember why we call this big book the ATLAS. That's where we find where things are at! And we found the Sargasso Sea sitting near the Bahamas in the middle the Atlantic Ocean. Did you know all eels from America and Europe lay eggs in the Sargasso Sea? When they are born they look like tiny glass fish but they turn into baby  eels and start their swim journey. Blake looked satisfied learning this. But then he asked to see the eel that that has the fish that it never bites. So we went upstairs and found the bookshelf in the bedroom called "Fish Do the Strangest Things" by the Hornblows, who must know something about deep sea fishing! On the book's last page Blake pointed to the eel with its friend the wrasse, who swims in and out of the eel's mouth to clean its teeth. The book likened the wrasse  to a doctor, more like a dentist but I likened this tiny fish to a toothbrush. Blake liked my simile probably because early on he enjoyed brushing his teeth as a tiny boy.

But for the record, don't think Blake is all serious and studious. Last week at the public library we looked for books on his requested topics: dinosaurs and volcanoes. I said he might not like the silly book on volcanoes since a flying school bus goes under the ocean to see the volcano. Blake said, "Well, I like silly!" So we checked it out along with the four other non-fiction books. That's a term we'll learn next time."

Gymnastics

We've been going to Gymnastics center on Sundays after church and the boys love it!

 

 

Gavin's Haircut

Before...

After...

Granted, a lot of people were commenting on what a cute girl he was, but this new year's day haircut was a mildly traumatic start to the new year for Mama Ali!  Nonetheless, in addition to being able to see, Gavin seems quite thrilled with his new look -- he has twice the energy and sleeps 30-60 minutes less daily.
Eeks!

Belated Christmas

Happy New Year!

I didn't realize how much we've been up to until I finally downloaded pictures to my computer.  The most obvious set of  memories is Christmas.  We had two Christmases this year, and continued to be asked for more by Blake until we finally took down the tree.  The first was with Grandparents Rob and Sharon, and Bitsy and Steve, and Aunt Rachel and Uncle James.  Our 17-foot tree, cut from the Uintah forest, presided perfectly over the pile of presents and we all had a lovely time. 

Here are a few highlights:

Family Christmas dinner

Sebe's new bike shorts... just kidding, these are for Gavin!

Gavin's baby mat, handmade by Rachel.

Blake's first LEGO Power Miners set... a BIG hit.

Gavin loves snuggling his giant stuffed animals.

Uncle James and Gavin doing a puzzle.

Rachel and Princess taking a break.

 

Rob, Rachel, Sharon enjoying a laugh.

Uncle James and Blake doing a puzzle.

Ali with a wow over the top from her mom!

 

Rachel modeling a new scarf.

And our second Christmas was comprised of puzzles and books from Oma and Opa, "Team Ziesler" sweatshirts from Carole and Conrad, and mountain gear from Scott Beall. 

Team Ziesler sweatshirts on Christmas morning.

Enjoying a cup of tea with Scott.  Photo by Blake.

How cute is this little tyke?

Reading his new book in the camping chair.

Could this look be signaling the end of Christmas?

We had a wonderful, white Christmas full of lots of love and laughs.

Quote of the day

Not much time for writing lately with our "early Christmas" coming up this weekend and family coming into town, Sebe in California this week for work, and just day-to-day life.  However, there are happenings everyday that have me chuckling.  Here was today's situation:

Blake and Gavin discovered a bowl of dried, fake decorative stuff we have around the house -- pine cones, pomegranates, and some odd-looking seed balls.  The seed ball is perfectly round and manages to fit quite well into a little palm.  Gavin made the discovery and Blake was quick to follow and find one for himself.  There they were, staring at me with these little balls in their hands and their faces full of anticipation.  The words came from Blake:
"What are these?"
"Can we throw them?"
"Can we roll them?"
"How do we break these?"It was the last question that had me laughing, as well as the rapid-fire delivery of the questioning.  I didn't even have a moment to answer between questions. 

The reason for documenting this is that I feel Blake's last question gives me great insight into boy-thinking.  I'll sum it up as follows:  discovering any new item is a matter of "how do I conquer this?" (i.e. break it).  This must explain why Blake is constantly taking apart his toy cars with a mini screwdriver  And perhaps gives meaning to yesterday's event:  Blake digging through the tool drawer collecting all the Allen wrenches and explaining to me that he was going to "fix the fire alarm" that was beeping while I was cooking dinner.

I love these little guys.