Swim, Gym, Harry Potter, and ETC

This morning was swim class. Last week was spring break, so no classes. The kids were both happy to be back in the pool. Duncan is doing well with his floating and dunking and going under to retrieve pool toys. Sayer's instructor is working with her to make sure her arm strokes are fully out of the water and beginning to show her side breathing. Today I also saw him having her tread water. She kept herself afloat for a good long time. Not sure how long exactly, as I looked up from my knitting to see it and don't know how long she'd already been going at it. But the teacher's smile afterward when he caught my eye was very big.

After swim class we got into the van and doled out snacks and headed to The Little Gym for Duncan's gymnastics class. We'd actually hung out for a half hour or so at the swim school chatting with one of the other moms, but Sayer was hungry and we did have to get going for gym class. We were about half way there (a whopping distance of perhaps 3 miles) when I looked back and saw Duncan nodding off. Well, a late night and an early morning and a dose of swimming and it was not a surprise. When we got to TLG there was about half an hour until his class was to start. So I held him and let him sleep while I read books to Sayer in the van. Then a few minutes before class we went in and slowly woke him up. He wasn't awake enough to want to go in when class started, but one of the instructors mentioned that the group activity was going to be the air track, and he was interested in going in for that, after another bit of a snack for energy and to help wake up further. So, a bit of food later and he went in to class, having missed only the first 7-8 minutes. And he stayed in for the rest of the class, not coming out after 45 minutes, as he has been doing. And he participated in all the activities and tried all the skills (donkey kicks/hand stands, hanging from the bar, poses on the balance beam). Yay!

After class we stopped at the library to return several books and to pick up Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on DVD. They've seen the first three, and we have the fifth one (which I haven't seen yet!), but I didn't want to show it to them without having shown them number 4. I only put it on hold yesterday, when we were at the library to sort donations, and the email was in my box this morning that it was waiting for me. Yay, again!

After the library we stopped at a local hardware/garden store to look for a simple bird house. We have a pair of doves who have returned to make a nest on the lintel post of the roof overhanging the front door and steps. This is the fourth year they've been back. The first year they were successful in building a nest, though I don't know if they hatched any chicks. The last two years the nests they've started building have been torn down by winds before they were really anything but a collection of sticks and grass and strings. This year we're going to try to help them. This morning on Sid the Science Kid, Sid and his dad were trying to get birds to move into the birdhouse they'd built. We were inspired, though not so much so as to build our own birdhouse. Instead we picked up a hanging coco-mat basket that is used for outdoor plants. We're going to hang this near where the birds generally try to build their nest, and see if they like it.

Then we were home for a late lunch, and to watch the newly checked-out HP film. Oooooh, aaaah, dragons! Mermaids! Dancing and the social awkwardness of teenagers! :) The return of Voldemort!

And then Sayer broke out her new ETC 3 workbook. The first books in the series worked on short vowel sounds. The next two books worked on consonant combinations at the beginning and ending of words. This one is about long vowel sounds. I asked Sayer to do 3 pages without my having looked them over first. They were SO EASY she did them in about 3 minutes. I'm astonished that this book came after the consonant blends! So, having done those 3 pages (and crowed loudly about how easy they had been), she did another 4 pages in less than 10 minutes. I know things will slow down a bit when she gets to the pages where she has to write rather than circle or cross out the correct answers. But still - seven pages in 10-12 minutes? Crazy!

That's been our day so far. I think we might start another read-aloud book at bed time tonight. Still not sure which one. I'll get Sayer to pick. :)