Splishin' and Splashin': Nolan's First Swimming Lesson

Several weeks ago I started trying to think of a way to get Nolan in the water. You see, I was a little...slow...learning how to swim. My parents would probably choose different words. Words like difficult, violent, stubborn, terrified, etc. Swimming 'lessons' for me are the stuff of legends. Like the time I clawed my dad's chest and screamed for the lifeguard at a public pool. Or the time I thought my mom literally was trying to kill me by not letting me grab onto the side. Or the time I ran behind my grandmother when my dad tried to make me swim (grandma's always protect you from mean old daddy). Or the time I learned to swim, then 'forgot.' My poor parents.

Anyway, each kid is different and maybe there's nothing you can do, but in an effort to at least try to avoid this nightmare with Nolan we've tried to get him used to the water early. As soon as he could sit up by himself in the bath we started dumping water on his head. At first we just poured a small amount. He coughed and spluttered a bit, but he was ok. Now we dump a whole cup full on his head and he loves it!

I found some classes at the Holladay Lion's Rec Center just down the street from our apartment and have been so excited for the classes to start. I really thought he'd like it, but it seems I underestimated exactly how much he would like it! He looked so comfortable in the water, wasn't scared at all, and loved splashing around.

This is a beginner class (the youngest a child can be is 6 months) so they really just focus on trying to get the child comfortable in the water and establish safety for both parents and children in the pool. One great point she made is that no one is drown proof. It doesn't matter how much you are around water, you are never drown proof. You can only work on drown prevention. Always watch your children in the pool, don't look at your phone!

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 Sitting with dad in his new trunks, all ready to get in the pool!

   Mom learning how to safely get a baby that can move, but doesn't understand the dangers of the pool, into the water.

 The instructor using Nolan to demonstrate one of the concepts

 Trying to get him to look at daddy for a picture, but he was too busy splashing!

 

 He was literally splashing the entire time she was instructing!! In fact, she commented a couple times about how much fun he was having haha!

  Learning how it feels to have his ears under the water

  

Splishin' and Splashin' - this is probably the most descriptive picture on how the class went :)

 Getting out (of course he wanted right back in though)

I think we've got a little fish!!

Nolan Douglas is 8 months Old!

Our little man is 8 month's old today!

(And gets to share his day of the month birthday with his Gm Bailey!)

Lately, Nolan has started reaching his hands up when he wants you to hold him and is also going through a bit of an "I want mommy" phase. Sometimes I'm not sure why because Justin is so much more patient with him when he gets fussy haha.  It feels kind of nice to be wanted though. To know that he knows that I'm his mommy! It's still crazy to wrap my head around that.

He hasn't gotten any teeth yet, but it's got to be any day now. In fact, just tonight he woke up from a deep sleep and was crying like he was hurting. Breaks my heart. He is SO ready for teeth. Poor guy always wants our food!

One last note - he still gets attention wherever we go, mostly because of his awesome hair and cute face! At the grocery store last week I passed a lady in the cereal isle and she said, "Now that is a beautiful baby!" Why thank you! (We know).

 It was quite an adventure trying to get this mover to sit still for his 8 month pictures! At the risk of overload, I thought it'd be funny to show some of the outtakes :)

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Our teammate Jabe's kids love playing with Nolan. AJ came right up to me before one of our games and said, "My mom's not here, but I can watch him!!" So cute.

 Having some fun at the park by our church

He loved kicking the soccer ball with mom! 

(He wasn't laughing for the first 30 seconds of the video and I'm too lazy to trim it now that it's up so you might have to just skip the beginning if you want)

Speaking of soccer balls...the other day we were at Scheels picking out a new glove for Justin. Nolan and I had some time to kill and found a size 3 soccer ball that entertained him for a long time!

 My little helper at the store. "Look mom! I made your grocery list into two grocery lists!" He looks so proud of himself! 

 Nolan loves 'helping' us brush our teeth so we got him his very own toothbrush and he loves it!

 Looking super handsome at church.

One of his new favorite 'games' is where Justin or I build a tower of blocks and he Godzilla's in there and knocks it over.

 Several weeks ago our friend Brian was playing shortstop, lost a line drive in the sun, and it hit him straight in the face! I thought for sure he had to have broken something, but he didn't. It's almost healed now but there's a little mark still under his left eye. Well, then Nolan gave himself a matching boo boo when he whacked himself in the face with his shapes ball. I had to get a picture of the twinners!

 He's getting so good at standing! In the picture on the right he's barely holding on to the tip of Justin's finger and thumb.

 We asked Paul if he could come to our softball game to watch Nolan last week. Then our friends Brian and Meghan were in a bind and needed someone to watch their little girl Samantha for about half the time too. When I asked Paul about it he said, "No problem! I've got 13 nieces and nephews!" True, he's a pro babysitter!!

 A cute moment right before Nolan spit up on his face!

 Going after the ladies...

It was so cute, once he was grabbing Samantha's dress from behind. She kept trying to walk away, but couldn't because he had her dress. She'd look back at him, scowl, and try to shimmy away from his grasp haha!

 He fell asleep grasping the tray on our jog the other day. It was pretty cute, and there was a pretty background so I stopped for a picture. 

Nolan has been coming with me to movie night and just loves Sara and Lis!

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Some pics from Jeanni's house

Jeanni took Nolan and two of the other boys she watches to Wheeler Farm last week! How fun!!

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In other non-Nolan news:

We finally saw Inside Out on Saturday (thanks to Paul offering to babysit for us! He's seriously the best!) The movie was SO good. I even had pretty high expectations going into it, but it did not disappoint. It makes you laugh, cry, think, and reflect on the past. Definitely buying it when it comes out on DVD.

Last, I thought I'd end with a little DIY I did on Saturday. Nolan's book collection is already outgrowing the little basket I was keeping them in, so last week I went to Home Depot and grabbed a crate, four wheels, and some screws. I sanded down the wood and attached the wheels to the bottom (I thought it'd be easier to wheel it around than drag it :)).

There were slots on the bottom too and I was worried about books falling through. So I took a cardboard box, cut it down to size and covered it with some fabric I had lying around from an old project. 

I think it turned out pretty cute! I was going to paint it, but decided to wait until I can put paint on the walls too and match a color scheme.