Aaand we're back at it.

The worst part of the trip was having to go to work on Tuesday.  And even Jayden felt it.  When we woke up Tuesday we told him we were taking him to Juju's and his question was "why???"  Every time he gets to spend an extended amount of time with us he gets confused as to why he has to go back to Juju's, but I know he also misses the kids.  Unfortunately another kid left Juju's - the other boy who was friends with him.  So now it's just him and a little girl who is about a month older than him. They get along pretty well, but she only goes three days a week.  Other than that, there's an almost two year old girl who is about a foot shorter than Jayden, an 18 month old boy, and two babies.  I worry a little about continuing to send him there, and have considered looking into preschools, but haven't taken too many actual steps towards doing anything.  Sometime in the next few months I'll visit a few of the preschools around here and start thinking about when we'd send him.  Initially I was tending towards not going to preschool - but now I'm considering it mostly for the social interaction.  Which means I'd be looking for a preschool that has some structure but also quite a bit of unstructured play and socialization time.  I'm sure I can find it, it's a matter of at what cost!

So even though our vacation was over, we still have had some fun in the past five days.

First, Carmen got to use some of Von's Adidas money and Jayden got Shell Tops (aka Superstars).  These are my favorite shoes ever, and have been since I was in high school.  Jayden got some sweet Superstars with velcro ("straps" as he calls them) and LOVES them.  He got them Tuesday night when Carmen got home from work.  Wednesday I was on drop off duty because Carmen had to get to L.A. early for a commercial shoot and he walked into Juju's held up both of his feet and told Juju "my daddy gave dees shoes to me, wast night!"  He was so proud.  And he's worn them every day since then.  It's really adorable.  And for some reason I feel like they make him look more grown up.  Which I don't like.  But I suppose it's inevitable.

Since I've started going to yoga, Jayden has discovered my yoga mat.  So our new "exercise" is to run in four or five circles around the family room, then do a pose on the yoga mat, then run some more, then do another pose, etc.  On Wednesday we came home and he said "Mommy?  Mommy?  Wets do downwahd dog."  So we ran a few times, and then practiced downward dog.  I also taught him tree pose, pigeon pose, upward dog and cobra.  I tried to pick poses that had good names that he'd recognize.
He really wants to go to a class with me, but I can't find any place that offers parent and kid yoga.  I found mommy and baby yoga, and places that offer yoga for kids.  And obviously the grown up yoga classes.  But when I tell him I'm going to yoga, he asks me if I've found a class for us to go to together. So then I feel horrible.  In my next life I'm going to open a yoga studio that offers classes for moms and kids (of all ages).

Friday night we had a date night.  I know the picture is a little dark, but it was the best I could do.  We went to one of those movie theaters that serves real food, wine, beer and ice cream.  It was great.  Rather expensive, even for a movie, but great.  We had chipotle chicken paninis, popcorn and pinot noir.
Mom, we decided if one of these came to Bainbridge it would increase the chances that Poppa might go to a movie.  The chances might still be slim, but they'd be a eensy weensy bit better if he could order wine (and actually pretty decent wine too) at the movie theater.
You can order a glass at the beginning and then order a refill to be delivered at a certain point during the movie, say 45 minutes in, or one hour in, or whatever.  It was such an interesting idea.  In any case, we enjoyed the experience AND we enjoyed the movie.  If you have the chance to see Begin Again, with Keira Knightley and a bunch of other people, you should definitely go see it.  It was a great story and really well acted.  It felt more like a documentary than a movie, which I really liked.

And then today it was back to swimming lessons with Ms. Stacy.  She took them immediately into the big pool, which obviously made Jayden's day.  He's so comfortable in the water, it's really just amazing.

Hanging out by himself with his noodle.  The other girl in his class was really nervous today - for whatever reason - so Jayden was a little more on his own.  But that didn't bother him.  While Ms. Stacy worked with the other girl in the shallow end, Jayden swam along side, diving his head underwater and kicking his feet.  And while they were heading out to the deeper end with their noodles, Jayden kicked along next to Ms. Stacy and the little girl, completely unconcerned that Ms. Stacy didn't have her hand on him or wasn't helping him. 

And at the end of the lesson Jayden practically ran to the block at the deep end of the pool.

And hesitated about half a second before taking flight.

Swam straight to the surfboard and climbed up by himself and got pushed in by Ms. Stacy (with the little girl on her back).

Waved to us while surfing, and then splashed straight into the pool.
Ms. Stacy said his breathing is better, but he needs to practice blowing his bubbles.  Right now he holds his breath when he goes underwater for a long time, which means he gasps and chokes when he comes up.  So we need to practice blowing bubbles and exhaling while underwater so he can inhale when he comes up.
It's just amazing how much progress he has made, particularly in the past couple of months.  He truly loves the water and has very strong opinions but very little fear, which is both good and bad.

And along those lines, we got home, went down for a nap, and when he woke up, he was ready to swim again.  The pool was ridiculously warm (and if I'm saying that then it really was warm because I'm a total wimp when it comes to pool temperature, just ask Carmen).

Floating in the pool.  At first he hated this thing, but once we plopped him in and he floated around he learned just how cool it was.  You stay in the water, but you also get to float without any work.  Best of both worlds!

My favorite thing about today was the one tiny curl that was hanging down in the back of Jayden's head.  Don't know if you can see it here, but I hope so.  It was awesome.

My boys in their turtle floaties.

Uncle Alex came over for dinner - we grilled salmon and I made a roasted sweet potato, cranberry and pepitas salad (which I highly recommend if any of you are interested).  And then Carmen and Alex left to go be nerds and play backgammon and Jayden and I had bath time and bed time together.

I bought him a pillow this week, thinking he might like it, and he does.  He loves it.  I've been talking to him about switching to a new bed, because he's quickly outgrowing his crib.  I'm thinking we might pick one out with him for his birthday.  There's no way he'll sleep in it if he doesn't pick it out, so I'm not even going to try that.  But he's only got a few more inches in the crib before he's as long as the crib is, so there's only so many more months!  Anyway, I figured a toddler pillow is the first step to transitioning to a real bed. Tonight I put him to bed with the pillow and three hours later he's still sleeping on it.  We'll see.  Everything is an adventure when it comes to kids. that's for sure.

Last night while we were gone, Katrina said they were playing and he turned to her and said "so, my mommy and daddy are coming home after I go to sweep?!?"  And Katrina said "yesss..." And he said "and then you weave (leave)?"  And Katrina said "yesss..." And Jayden said, "okay, then I go sweep now."  It was so sad, but also so funny!  And then when they were climbing the stairs he turned to her and said "you wiv' wif uvver gwown ups?"  Katrina said "yes, I do."  And he said "oh, okay."  Funniest conversations ever.  And while they were a little sad, it is also nice that he actually talks to Katrina now.  Because he didn't used to talk to her.

He's started saying "sure" and "no pwobwem" when we ask him things.  I'll say "Jayden, do you want a boost to get on to the couch?" and he'll stop for a minute and think, and then say "sure."  And if I say "thanks Jayden, that's awesome that you're willing to help me stir the salad," he'll say "no pwobwem mommy."  It's just so cute.

I'll think of more stories soon and will post them as I remember.  Thanks for being patient in my long absence - it always takes a bit to recover from getting home from vacation!