Erik and the Babies

Let me disclaim this by saying, I am not pregnant and have no plans to be in the near future, but I have a lot of pregnant friend's right now. Three of these friends we see pretty regularly and all of them are in their 3rd trimester so they are pretty pregnant at this point.

Occasionally Erik will ask a friend why their belly is full or big or some very four year old question. They tell him that there is a baby in there and he goes on his way. When Christine was over on Tuesday the questions got much deeper. He started asking where babies come from and how they come out and became very curious about the process. He asked how they eat and learned that what Christine ate, the baby ate too and then started to feed her blueberries to see what would happen, very adorable, but I was completely unprepared for the "where do babies come from" conversation on Tuesday.

Then on Wednesday I was talking to my friend Lauren who was going to be induced the next day, so we were having a very specific conversation about the baby being born. Erik really caught on to that conversation and the next two days his imaginary play had a lot of talk about babies being born and how they are born. I was surprised at how much it was coming up to be honest, the conversation must have really affected him that day.

Then come today, we saw the daughter of my friend at swim lessons and I was asking her about her new baby brother. When we came home, Erik took out his baby doll and started playing baby with it. Since I have two boys, playing with dolls is not very common. He was doing everything to this baby, singing to it, rocking it, brushing its teeth, we even swaddled the baby. Very interesting since I was just talking to his friend how her new baby brother.

My interest in Erik's baby play doesn't come from the baby itself, but I find it fascinating how much of our environment really affect the children. In no way do we really talk about babies in our house, expect for me to ask Carl occasionally to have a third ... Yet here I am with very pregnant friends all week and Erik is learning and discovering by them in his play. It really shows you that you can't shelter your children from everything in life.

 

Erik's Swim Issues

It is no secret that Erik is not a water baby. He has not been a fan of the water since he turned 2 and developed fears. He never wants to put his head under and is very resistant with anyone who tries to teach him in the water.

Regardless my in-laws have a pool and I am determined to get him more comfortable and safe because I had nightmares before he was even born about him drowning. So we have been going to a swim school where each of the boys gets a private lesson for 15 minutes three times a week.

At this school we accidentally signed up at the exact same time as our friends, so Erik and Elliot go there with friends, which is a mixed blessing. In the beginning the little boys, Elliot and his friend, screamed the entire time in the pool, but now that they are in the swing of things its a good way to get the boys out the door everyday.

Since the little boys were screaming their first lessons we separated them and Erik would go with my friend's youngest. Well today Erik asked to go first, there have been no issues, so I told him to go ahead. Basically he was in the pool with his friend at the same time.

He was a completely different kid in the pool. For some reason being in there with his friend just spurred him on to listen and try new things and do better. I was in complete shock. At some point during his lesson I heard him ask his teacher, "Am I swimming as good as Ella?" who is now swimming underwater and is doing an awesome job.

I can't believe when I started having trouble I didn't think of it before, and whenever our friends are at the lessons with us I am 100% throwing Erik in the water at the same time as his friend. Its like a new kid in the pool because he is so competitive and wants to do just as well. I knew he was inspired by competition but didn't know what suggestions to make to his teacher to get him to start liking it again. Guess I was looking the wrong way.

As a little side note, Elliot swam underwater today all by himself! I was in total shock and completely amazed. I bet by the end of our next 10 lessons he will be swimming all by himself. I am so proud of him and knew he would be doing that by the end of the summer. He is such a water baby. It shows you how different your kids can really be.

 

A new month and new adventures

Before the month of June even approached I had a feeling of dread, I had overbooked us. For one solid month we have almost no free time and activities constantly only to be followed by a complete dead month in August. This was our first real week of the craziness, its only Tuesday and I'm tired.

Right now Erik is attending summer school five days a week and then in the afternoons until mid July both boys are taking swim lessons 3x a week. Elliot has a class every morning Monday thru Wednesday and then Thursday and Friday are our playdates do whatever we want days. Although its nice to be busy, I like the boys to have a few more off days than what they have right now. If anything I like them to have their afternoons free so they can just play.

Everything is going really well with summer school. I was a tad nervous because Erik is in the same school, different classroom, different teacher and different students. I really wasn't sure how he was going to adjust. Last night be told me he didn't want to go to school anymore because he misses me too much. Well this morning, he had his backpack on by 8 am and was begging to go to school, then when I picked him up he was wet and covered in black paint. My guess is that he is LOVING summer school.

For Elliot, the only class that officially started was gymnastics on Monday, but next week will be our full week with storytime and music class. He is loving gymnastics. He got crazy wild eyes when he was playing on all the equipment. I am impressed with everything that he tries and wished the class had a bit more structure for him. He is loving the equipment and gaining more and more confidence every day. I think he is ready for the next class, but I'll wait a month or two before I ask for him to move up early.

Swim lessons a whole different story. It was a rough start for Elliot, but Erik jumped right into it. Erik was swimming, breathing, going underwater and just having a great time with it. Then last Friday when everyone was there he decided he didn't like it anymore and stopped listening to the teacher. Then on Monday the same story, but we got him participating again by the end of the session. I am a bit frustrated and hoping he stops acting up soon. This is just our ongoing saga of turning 4 years old over here.

When I signed up Elliot for swim lessons I thought he would do awesome and try immediately. Then on the first day he started freaking out half way through and wouldn't stop crying and did it the next lesson. He suddenly afraid of the pool. The following weekend I took him to the pool myself and tried to make him more comfortable. By the end of our time he was doing everything he would do in school. Since then he hasn't cried for any of his lessons and is doing fantastic. As of yesterday he was even floating on his back. I am so proud of him and wouldn't be surprised if he was swimming by the end of the summer.

Ghost Towns; Bodie and "Masonic"

We went to a few ghost towns, or as we called them in front of Erik, "really really old towns where no one lives anymore", he hated the term ghost town. It was snowy conditions on our trip, and we couldn't really enjoy the outdoors like we had planned so what do you do, in our case drive to see some old ghost towns. The kids are happy because they can run around and Carl and I find them fascinating.

The most interesting fact about visiting these ghost towns is Erik's reaction. It was completely unanticipated, but makes perfect sense for a three year old. He said it really bothered him that there were a bunch of old buildings and no one lived in them anymore. He just didn't like that. Basically the definition of a ghost town.

The first one we visited was Bodie, which is a tourist attraction for the area. At one point 8,000 people lived in Bodie and you wonder "what the heck" as you drive a long windy dirt road, up mountain, in the middle of nowhere. Then you think that is why no one lives here anymore.

Bodie was an old mining town and if you know your California history, gold mining was HUGE in the 1850s which is right around when this town was established. I think the last residence left in the 1950s so this little town has a 100 year history.

Its really hard to look around and see all the details when you have two small kids who are complaining about the cold and wind. So I just snapped a few pictures, looked in a few windows and we were done in an hour. Its a gorgeous location and definitely worth a visit if you have the smallest interest in ghost towns.

The road to Bodie

Bodie

Old Mining Equipment

Bank Vault

The creek

Bodie

School House

A Residence

A Building

Stores

The next day we had planned to take a nature walk, but the brisk wind and 30 degree temps stopped us before we could even pay for parking. Carl and I made a quick decision to drive to Bridgeport and check it out. On the way Carl read about an old ghost town called Masonic so again we drove up a really long, SNOWY road, up the mountain in the middle of the nowhere to what we thought was Masonic. We later found out that it was just a mine and the actual town was a bit farther down the road, but it was snowing pretty bad and the kids were napping so we didn't want look much farther. Here are pictures of what we thought was Masonic, but are just an old abandoned mine. Yet another piece of California gold rush history.