When it rains it pours!

Yesterday Jovie took her very first baby steps!! Two consecutive little steps!! Can't believe my baby will be walking around soon.

And yesterday Cohen nailed all the major colors. We have been working on our colors for a long time but for the last 3 or 4 weeks I've been making sure we devote at least 10 minutes (that's about Cohen's max for a "lesson") to talking about and practicing color recognition. For the longest time, he knew blue. I would point to something blue and ask him what color it was and he would know that it was the same color as Doc Hudson from Cars, so he would either say "blue" or "that's like Doc". We used this kind of recognition for many of the colors he learned. And last night he nailed all his colors and didn't divert to calling things green when he wasn't sure, which is what he used to do. Cohen showed dad his new color skills when he got home and got them all right again. So cool!!

Also last night, we were playing outside for about 20 minutes before bed and Cohen totally got the hang of pushing his pedals on his tricycle! He was so excitied when he figured out he could make the tricycle move by himself, while sitting down no less.

Also, this weekend we went swimming and Cohen showed me all his new skills he's learned in swim class. It was a huge difference from the weekend before! I guess that's what 3 swim lessons per week will do for you;) He was holding his head under for 3+ seconds, he jumped in and the kept his head down and kicked over to me. And we would go under together and open our eyes too! So cool! I was super excited about his new swim skills and it makes me want to practice more and more! All these exciting developments just bring out the Tiger mother in me and make me want to do more and more with him. Neurons are a firin' and I love it!!

Learing to Swim

Cohen started swimming lessons in April at our gym. He loves going to the pool and he really liked the swim instructor, Miss Karen. We started with lessons at the gym because we had a two free months that came with our membership, then we had such a good time there we decided to do another month. In our last month at the gym swimming lessons, the instructor suggested that Cohen move up to the next level of swim class. The next level swim class had Cohen in the water with 2 or 3 other toddlers and the instructor, no mom! This was the first activity Cohen has done that was not mommy and me. It was kind of nice not having to go in the water with him and watching him from the "sideline." Also, Jovie was able to come with me and watch rather than going to the gym daycare and so I was relieved that I didn't have to worry about them coming for me with a sign reading my name because Jovie was upset in the daycare. Here are pictures of Cohen's swim class. The kids sit on benches in the water that are 15 feet apart while the instructor takes one at a time back and forth while they practice kicks, putting their heads in, and using their arms.

This month we have started swim lessons with one of the moms in my moms club, who is a certified swim instructor and does lessons at her house. We've just started this week and it looks like we will do two to three lessons a week for a few weeks at least.

When we're not is swimming lessons Cohen uses his floaties in the pool and does quite well with them. He is able to float with them on and even jump off the side of the pool without anyone catching him. I also let him jump off the diving board the other day at Uncle Mike's house and that was quite fun as well. I know some moms choose not to use the floaties for various reasons with their kids but for they work well for us. They allow me to be able to manage both Cohen and Jovie in the water at the same time; which was something I didn't know if I would be able to do at the beginning of the summer. I was glad to make this happen because so many summer activities are centered around the pool here in AZ. Happy Swimming all!