Schmit Family
Welcome to schmits.org: , , , and virtual front porch. This web site is just that; a place to visit for family, friends, and anyone, who are too far away, to stop by in person. Pull up a chair and stay a while....
 

23 February 2008 8:15 pm

Bye Bye Weekend Naps

We may have seen the last of weekend naps for Dylan. Last Sunday was the first day that Dylan successfully had no nap. He'd had a few days without a nap previously, but they all ended with either Dylan asleep at 6 p.m. on the way home from school or a very-difficult-to-deal-with Dylan by bedtime. On Monday, school was closed, and Dylan and Andrea were home with Geoff. It too was a no-nap day for Dylan. In spite of swimming class to tire him out today, Dylan resisted a nap. Tonight, I didn't think of the missed nap until about 7:40 p.m. as I was reading Andrea her stories before bed, and I could hear what sounded like a melt-down in the hallway.

Good news, bad news. The bad news is that I don't have that down-time to be productive and recharge in the middle of the day anymore. We are trying to convince Dylan that he needs to play quietly and independently while Andrea is napping, but he still needs help periodically. The good news is that Dylan falls asleep while reading stories at night again. So, there's no struggle and both kids were asleep a few minutes after 8:00 p.m. That means that I actually have a few hours of quiet down-time at the end of the day.

Dylan continued to take a nap at school this week, which is good for him. He slept for a solid two hours there still. So, while he isn't quite ready to give up naps totally, he may do so 2 out of 7 days. It will be interesting to see what happens when grandparents come to visit...

Posted by geoff at 20:15 in /family/dylan
 

23 February 2008 1:52 pm

Jumping In

Today at swim class, Andrea did not want to wear the float belt. I didn't push it, and she got to demonstrate some other skills without it. She has taken a liking to riding on the pool noodle by stradling it. This supposedly improves the ability to balance in the water and can indicate whether a child is ready to swim. Regardless, Andrea was enjoying it for a while unlike last week.

At the start of class, Andrea wasn't really ready to swim. She refused to do the first number of activities: climb out of the pool, sit on the side of the pool and kick, and even jumping in. During the class Andrea slowly participated more. By the end of class, Andrea was finally ready to really swim. There is 15 minutes after our class prior to the start of the next class, so we always get a bit of free swim. During this time today, Andrea demonstrated that she can jump in from the side of the pool all by herself with no float belt. She sinks much further and I believe that she touches the bottom of the pool; the pool is marked as three feet deep. She then surfaces but needs a bit of help getting her face out of the water. She needed a few reminders to keep her mouth closed under water, but not once did she come up choking. After the first unassisted jump, I was waiting to see what her reaction was. And it was to reach toward the side of the pool and ask to do it again.

A new session of swim classes starts next week. Andrea got her report card this week, and it is never clear exactly what level she is in. Her swim teacher keeps asking when Andrea will be three, and I have to remind the teacher that Andrea isn't yet two. So, we're going to be in the same swim class for another year and a couple of months.

Posted by geoff at 13:52 in /family/andrea