swimming lessons

i've just been swimming (in a pool) for the third time ever, and felt the time had come to 'do it myself'. mom and the instructor gave me a couple of turtle-shape floats to hold and if i pushed them out to the side and made them swim away from each other, while i kicked my legs, i found that i could swim. it was a bit tiring after a while so i went back to climbing out and leaping in from the side. the rest of the class were singing songs in a circle, but i've never really been into that kind of thing.

Katrina comes swimming too, but she's usually late and i don't think she likes the cold water much. after we've been in the water for about 45 minutes we're both blue with cold and it's time to go and warm our toes in the jacuzzi.

i think tuesday mornings can be a bit stressful for mom as she has to organise swimming things and snacks for me, as well as pack a diaper bag for ollie with his breakfast and a change of clothes and some toys to play with at fumi's house - all whilst trying to keep ollie happy when really he just wants to have a nap - but we can't leave the house until fumi is back from dropping her boys at school, and ollie can't nap at home or i'd miss my swimming lesson. suffice to say there's a lot of shouting and crying going on ...... i think mom might have to take some stuff of her own too, but i'm a boy so i don't really notice that kind of thing.

at the aquarium

if we lived in bristol we'd join all the other mum's in town and have a season ticket to the zoo ....but here in vancouver we don't have a zoo to visit so on a rainy day when mom and/or dad can't think of anything else to do, we go to see the fish at the aquarium.

i usually manage to make mom giggle by announcing very loudly as soon as we get inside "i see a fish". it's not quite as daft as it sounds as we also get to see sharks and turtles, sea otters, belugas, dolphins, birds, jellyfish, starfish and "the big one" - a huge sea lion

ollie likes lying on the floor and watching the belugas, i like clambering over the 'rocks' that surround the various tanks and displays. mom likes watching the dolphins jumping and the sea otters holding hands. i think dad would rather be in starbucks having a coffee, although he has been known to admire the jellyfish.

here's some photos for you:

historymaker

despite the fact that historymaker was in Chilliwack this year, rather than Kamloops (about four hours less travel time) mom still didn't fancy taking me and ollie for the whole weekend. this may have had something to do with the fact that dad was camping with the youth group and the rain was torrential. we did go and visit for the day though.

the music was great and i did some good dancing, ollie was very cute bouncing along in his jolly jumper, dad seemed at least reasonably pleased to see us and mom even got to go to a yard sale. ollie and i were in the double stroller walking along the street in the pouring rain (it was nap time!!) and mom was telling the lady she was with how the one thing we were looking for right now was an affordable bike trailer. right across the street from the arena where historymaker was taking place there was a yard sale happening - kind of strange given the weather - and there sitting in the rain was 'our' bike trailer. dad did express some concern about how on earth we were going to get it home, but after mom had pointed out the youth group had eaten an awful lot of the snacks that were taking up space in the car on the way dad thought it would be okay. all we need now is for the weather to improve enough for us all to go on a bike ride, and ollie's head to grow enough to fit my first cycle helmet.

on the plus side we got to hear the desperation band and starfield, and meet lots of nice people. the youth group had a great time too, despite the rain. on the down side dad ended up sleeping in the car our tent leaked so much, and then the car died on the last day.

the whole picture

just in case you were wondering what i was looking quite so happy about - here's the whole picture!




i've just baked my first ever muffins. they're banana and chocolate chip. mom took the photo while we were waiting for them to cool down enough to eat. YUMMMMMMM

time for a new blog profile photo

since dad's not around to do this the clever way, i'm following the blogger instructions - it might work!

mom needed to find a workaround as the blogger method didn't work, but we got there.

kiss and cuddle?

i know it looks like i'm flattening him, but i'll do almost anything for a kiss and cuddle these days - even getting into bed and lying down with my eyes shut!
sometimes mom puts ollie on my lap for a cuddle, but usually i just go and help myself to one. mom wasn't very happy this morning when i took a stool into his bedroom so i could reach into his cot and have a cuddle just after he'd gone to sleep.
sorry mommy - my fault

Apples everywhere

the whole family had an 'apple moment' the other evening. i was sitting on the sofa enjoying one of the Okanagan's finest organic delights, while Ollie sitting beside me was doing his best to digest his first taste of apple puree. mom was in the kitchen peeling apples to make a crumble, and dad? dad was drooling over the packaging of his new Apple Macbook. i'm not sure that he actually got the chance to open it before Ollie started crying though