Swimming

Monday was Jacob's first day of swimming lessons at Crawfish Aquatics. He was nervous because he didn't know what to expect but he was still eager to go. When I picked him up after class he was quite distraught. Apparently he cried most of the lesson because he was so scared to do new things. He told me that he put his head underwater and had to swim to the teacher. What? When I asked him how the teacher got him to do it he said that the teacher told him to. Nice. We would have had to shove his head under water and launch him out to get him to "swim". All during the day and into the evening Jacob talked about how much he didn't want to go back to swim lessons. On the way the next morning I tried to keep his mind off where we were going by telling jokes, singing songs, and dancing crazy. He also wanted me to hold his hand at the stop lights. At this point I was seriously questioning whether it was the right time for swimming lessons and if he was going to be scarred for life. Before we got out of the car and after he said that he hated swimming lessons for the thousandth time, I asked Jacob if he wanted to say a prayer to Heavenly Father to help him be brave. After the prayer he put on a brave face and tried not to cry. He was much braver and cried a lot less. That night we decided to take him swimming in the pool so he could show us what he was learning. We were absolutely amazed!! He kept putting his head all the way under water and had us count to 10!! He loved it. He continues to be nervous with us and his teacher when he has to swim. He does great at gliding and kicking his feet and "swimming" for about 5 feet. He just doesn't like the feeling of not being able to touch the bottom. Jacob really is coming a lot way and we are very proud of his progress. Before each lesson he likes to say a prayer to help him be brave. He told us that the "scared part goes up to Heaven and the brave part stays down with him in his brain".  We are excited to watch his class next Thursday.

Wedding

A few weeks ago we went to a wedding of our friend at the church. I asked before hand if it was ok if Jacob came and the bride said that she wanted him there. She just loves him! He was so quiet through the short ceremony, although he did ask when the stake president was going to stop talking :) He loved seeing everyone dressed up and them "getting a marriage". During the ceremony they had my friend Becky Bluth, the Stake RS President that I work under, sing a nice wedding song. When I told Jacob she was getting ready to sing he said, "This is going to be beau-ti-ful!" It was sweet. He also enjoyed seeing his primary president play the violin and wondered why she wasn't playing while Ms. Becky sang. It seems they should have consulted him on the dynamics of the entertainment. :) The reception was enjoyable and Jacob sat with the primary president while we danced a little. There was a lot of Cajun food but Max took the boy home before the dancing and cake. I stayed and helped clean up. It was a nice evening.

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

Yesterday we were planning on going to a state park for the day. We got to bed late and woke up not really wanting to go and decided to stay in town. We also didn't want to spend the money on gas and food. So Jacob and I decided to some garage sales. He always scores with fun, cheap toys when we go. I try to stay in the neighborhood because after he gets his toys he wants to go home and play. Then I can go back out and look some more. This time he found an old old race car track (25 cents) that ended up not working and a newer Atari game box that you plug into your TV to play ($2). It has games like pac man and pole position and he loves it!! When he wanted to buy it I told him to ask the lady how much it costs. He said, "Why much it costs? I REEEAAAALLLY want it!!" The older lady was so tickled by it as well as several others that were near by. It was pretty funny!  She still charged him $2 even thouge he was so adorable. Bummer :) While we were out, I was pulling up along side a curb and my tire fell into a small drainage hole. I guess there was something sticking out of the hole area because when I drove away the tire was completely flat. Max came to help change the tire and as he was tightening the bolt it snapped off. I didn't want to deal with calling around to see how much it was going to cost to get a new tire and fix the bolt. We shoulda just went out of town! Woulda been cheaper!

Refections

We were walking into church the other day and Jacob got a glimpse of his reflection in the door. He surprisingly stated, "I'm handsome." Then he started acting all shy like he couldn't believe that he was so handsome. I guess it is time to get a full length mirror in our house.

School

The gifted and talented office finally called to talk to me about what Jacob's options are for school next year. Parkview is a school near us that has a class in each grade that is only gifted and talented. We really wanted him to attend that school but, of course, it fills up in January and there is always a long waiting list. So our next option in the area was to keep him at the school he is registered for and then have him in the pull out program. We decided to do this mainly because it is the best option, he is prepared to go to school there already, and his gifted teacher who is in our ward is a great teacher.  I talked to her today and she was very excited to have him in her class. She was also very impressed with his scores and wished he could be in the self-contained program at Parkview. Maybe in first grade. So our little guy will be going to all day kindergarten with about 45 minutes of gifted pull-out. We are very excited and apprehensive about him starting school. He is very ready, though!

Let Them Eat Cake!

The YW in our ward put on a spaghetti dinner and cake auction to raise money for girls camp. I decided to make Paula Dean's Coconut Cake. Max felt that if I was going to make a cake that I had better make one for us as well. So, I ended up making two and it was the best decision I made all week! It was delicious!!! We ate on it for 3 days. Luckly, Jacob doesn't like coconut so he only had a little bit to try. The pictures here are of the auction cake that sold for $52. The lady that bought it told me that her grown up sons told her to beg me for the recipe and if I wouldn't give it to her then she needed to pay me for it. It really was a delicious cake!