Aqua Star

After only 5 short lessons, our biggest fear has finally been conquered. We believe that if Tyler were to fall into the pool, his survival lessons will kick in and he will know how to get back to the wall and monkey walk to the steps.

A long time friend started her own business teaching private swimming lessons for infants and toddlers. When she called to see if I would be interested in her teaching Tyler, I was super excited! Especially, since after our vacation in Captiva, we learned that Tyler had no fear of the water. Coincidentally, we got the call as we were driving to Captiva! Talk about timing!

Long story short, Tyler began his lessons on June 9th and has been having lessons every Wednesday and Friday morning. She started with teaching him to "monkey walk" along the edge of the pool (basically, it's when the kid holds on to the side of the pool and can get around the pool by doing so). Then, she moved on to teaching him how to reach up to the wall from under water. Tyler always did well with holding his breath, so he did very well with going under. Concentrating on big, straight-legged, kicks is something she touches on in every lesson and we have now moved on to actually swimming to the wall and the steps. Tyler caught on to all of this very quickly and I'm so glad we got him into it. He still needs some practice on the kicking, as he's a bent leg kicker, but we're working with him on that. She's now trying to teach him to float on his back (which he HATES) so that he can catch a breath and swim for longer distances. This will take some persistency (and lots of airplane watching) to get him comfortable with this. She also now drops him in the pool from the side and he pops back up and grips on to the side. I'm a little more at ease knowing that he knows what to do when he's in the water.

At this age, most of her lesson is about survival and getting to the wall. God forbid Tyler ever fall in, I think his instinct would be to get to the wall. And, if he couldn't climb out of the pool where he was at, he would know how to get to the steps and get out. Living in South Florida, surrounded by water, I think it's the best thing you can do for your kid. The younger you start them, the better. If anyone wants the info on the swim lessons, let me know and I will send it to you.

Here's some video footage of Tyler in action. Sorry about the quality of the actual video clips, I have to hide while he's getting his lessons or his only interest is "Mommy". So, these are taken through the screen from inside. And so it goes...

Potty Practice

Notice the hand positioning. He's aware that he needs to push "it" down so that he doesn't make a mess!
It's official, potty training has begun. I wouldn't exactly consider it potty "training" at this point, but more like potty exploration.

I decided to buy Tyler a training potty about a week ago and let him start exploring and experimenting with it. For now, we mainly work with him right before he gets in the shower with us, asking him if he wants to go pee pee on the 'big boy potty'. I was COMPLETELY and UTTERLY SHOCKED when he squatted down and did a little tinkle the first day that we had it. I thought that was the beginning to a cake walk down potty training row. Ha! Not so much. For the remainder of the week, we tried the same thing and, night after night, came up with an empty bowl. Not a big deal. It is a little early on for him to really grasp this concept, but we'll get there.

Friday night, he and David were just about to get in the shower and we asked our routine question. Much to our surprise, Tyler darted to his potty, sat down and stayed hunched over as if he were trying to see in. A few seconds later, he stood up and, OH MY GOD, the bowl had a good amount of urine in it! SUCCESS!!!!! We haven't had the same luck the past 2 nights, but that's alright. Operation Exploratory Potty Practice is underway. And so it goes...

Demolition Derby

We spent Memorial Day Weekend at a friend's house in Inverness this year. We always have a blast when we go there, but this trip had to be one of the best times I've had there yet. We went airboating, swam in the Spring that the locals refer to as "Big Blue" (I take that back, David & Tyler went in, I only dipped my feet in. It's way too cold for me.), ate lunch at Turner's on the River, attended a BBQ at a very impressive home with a private white sandy beach.....the list could go on and on!



One of the best events of the weekend, in my opinion, were the races "in town" at the Citrus County Speedway. It was our first trip to this Speedway and Tyler's first trip to a Speedway, ever! The main event was the School Bus Figure 8 Race! We got there a little late, but like anything else, they save the best for last. We got to see the car figure 8 race and then 2 fields of school bus figure 8 races. We laughed and laughed and laughed. While it wasn't officially a 'Demolition Derby', some of the drivers acted as if it were. Banging, clanging, even running with 2 flat tires. They didn't care, which made the race even better. I took a short video of the race and trust me, it does no justice. You had to be there. I recommend that everyone see this once in their life. It is a hoot!

We were there for about 2 hours and Tyler didn't make a peep or take his eyes off the track the entire time. He was mesmerized! The last event was a jet car that literally burned another car to the ground as the "grand finale" of the races. Imagine standing next to a single engine jet as it is about to take off. That's how loud it was. I thought it would surely scare Tyler, but consistent with the rest of the night, he didn't budge. He was so intrigued with that, too. Below are a few pictures. I can't wait to take Tyler back to the Speedway! And so it goes...

Bubble Boy

As you have read in previous posts, Tyler is very fond of bubbles. Last Friday, I woke early to try and get my weekly truck wash done prior to us leaving town mid-day for the holiday weekend. Usually, I do it when Tyler is napping. Since I was doing it in the morning this time around, I had a little helper right beside me. He dug in the wash bucket until he had a fist full of bubbles and then would rub it on the truck. If I had kept count, I would have heard the word "bubble" over 10,000 thousand times in 20 minutes, if not more. I was able to catch a little of it on video before the battery died. My favorite part is at the end when he attempts to blow the bubbles. Enjoy our little Bubble Boy! And so it goes...