Reading the Morning Paper

I couldn't resist taking this picture this morning. As many of you know, Sam loves golf and anything that deals with golf. We drive by Jones Creek neighborhood and he sees a tiny sliver of the golf course and he starts chanting "golf course, golf course!"--in his own accent and dialect, of course. Lately, Augusta has had many great photos of the Augusta State Golf Team in the news because of their amazing second time championship. Alan and I are amazed that even when there isn't really a golf club or ball in sight, somehow, Sam knows that those are photos of golfers or of a golf course.

Well, this morning as we were eating breakfast. I was reading the newspaper and Rory McIlroy is, of course, on the front page of the paper and the front page of the sports section for his outstanding performance at the US Open.

Sam sees this picture in the newspaper and insists on getting his hands on it. The next thing I know, Sam is sitting at the breakfast table "reading" the newspaper. Then he finds a picture of a baseball player and gets just as excited as he did Rory's picture. All through breakfast, he kept scanning the paper like it was the most important news. It was very cute!

I thought it was a cute little moment this morning...just thought I'd blog about it :)

"Graduation" from Baby Swim Lessons

Yesterday was Sam's last swim lesson. For the grand finale, we brought the video camera and Alan and I got to sit pool-side to watch our little guy swim. I think he was distracted by the camera and having both of us down by the pool. At previous lessons, we had to sit in the house and watch from a window because he wouldn't go to his swim teacher if we were right there.

I think he did pretty well considering his young age. Here is a video of some of the highlights from his last lesson: swimming and kicking with his teacher Ms. Theresa and going down the water slide. All the other students in the class asked to go down the slide at the last lesson and after Sam watched each and everyone go down, he decided that he wanted to try it. I think you'll see from the video that once was enough for him :) I'm proud of him for being so willing to try new things--even when they look a little scary.

Here is the link to the video I posted on YouTube.

Swimming Lessons 2011

Great job, Sam!

Splish-Splash!

Sam started swimming lessons last week. The lessons are every day for a 8 days and I was warned ahead of time, that moms often find it harder than the children. It amazes me how right they were. They also said--give it three days and he won't be crying anymore. In three days, Sam went from crying for the entire hour to willingly and happily stepping into the pool with his teacher.

I'm not ready to say that he is swimming, yet. He knows he needs to kick his legs, pull his arms, and hold his breath. Floating on the other hand isn't coming easily to him. He'll jump off the stairs and glide for about 2 -3 feet before he starts going vertical. He has no fear, unlike me. On the 3rd night of swimming lessons, he followed the big boys (6-7 years old) to the diving board Sure enough, he went off the diving board! He was cautious but very eager to jump in the water. His teacher held his hand as he went in the water and he went back two more times! I'm still afraid to jump off the diving board--maybe that's where his cautious spirit comes from. His eagerness definitely comes from his daddy!

Here are some photos that I took through the window as we watched him last week.







Alan and Sam enjoy playing with each other at the pool, too. The noodle and boats are his favorite pool toys. He likes to hang out by the stairs and push off the stairs and "swim" to me or Alan. Here are some pictures of Alan and Sam playing together.