This summer flew by way quicker that I expected it to. A highlight to the end of the school year was G's school picnic. It was so incredible to see him fitting right in, relating to the kids in his activity group with such ease, having so much fun with so many activities, and doing well! It was a fantastic day, and really unbelievable to witness just how far he's come... it was only months earlier that I would see him looking so lost in this kind of setting.
Because the summer was so cool and rainy, we spent much less time at the pool than I had hoped, and every hot sunny day going to the pool was our priority. That meant that we didn't do the usual summer outings (zoo, amusement park, etc.). I had more work to do than usual over the summer, but aside from work, I'd made a decision to just enjoy time with the kids over summer... to just be together. There were a lot of tough days, with awful weather resulting in too much time inside (which led to a million fights between the kids). Overall, though, it was really nice to just have time together, no crazy plans and agendas. A definite highlight for the summer for G was getting to spend time with a new special friend, Josee, every morning. He really enjoyed this time, and learned how to play drums, how to rap, and just have fun!
We started summer holidays with swimming lessons. After trying regular swimming lessons for G for a few years, we decided to try private lessons for him this year. He was so determined to learn how to swim, and he connected really well with his instructor. He accomplished so many things this year that he'd been afraid to do in the past -- jumping into the pool (which means going under the water and not freaking out), jumping off the diving board, swimming without a lifejacket, and intentionally putting his head under water! It meant that he passed level 1! L didn't pass her level, but she didn't seem to mind at all... she was way too busy having fun :-) M wasn't in swimming lessons this year, but it was impossible to keep her out of the pool while the other kids were in their lessons... so we put her bathing suit on and let her play in the shallow end of the pool. She is such a fish, figuring out the beginning steps to swimming all on her own, going underwater all on her own, and loving every second in the pool!
Another big event during the summer holidays was G losing his first tooth! It had been wiggling all summer holidays, and one day he decided that he would like Daddy to try to pull it out. I thought he might be scared about it, or have a hard time with Daddy's fingers in his mouth for that long, but he was a real trooper. He opened wide so that Dad could wiggle his tooth back and forth to loosen it. The girls were right at his side, watching intently. L held his hand, to "help him be brave," and M has been pretending to have loose teeth ever since. G was so excited to put his tooth under his pillow that he had a really hard time falling asleep, and ended up coming to our bed for the night. He was thrilled to find money under his pillow in the morning! He had one other really big money event this summer. G decided, after he'd earned a little bit of money with responsibilities, that he'd like to count all of the money that he'd put into his piggy bank over the past few years (money that he's been saving for about 4 years... and scavenging). Well, it turned out that he had over $100 in there. He was hoping that it would be enough to buy a DS, but it wasn't... so he chose to buy a couple of games for his "new" XBOX.
The introduction of the X-ee Box-ee into our house this summer was a HUGE highlight for G as well. Auntie Al gave it to the kids for their birthdays when she and Dave were out for a visit during the summer festival. G was over the moon, and has been ever since! The girls are still a little too uncoordinated to play the games, but they love to watch G and cheer him on! He is really very good at the games, and is incredibly cooperative with respecting the limits that we've set about how much time he can spend playing the games.
Allison and Dave's visit was a huge highlight to the summer for all of us! We had SUCH a great time with both of them... just hanging out, enjoying their company, and having fun together! We took in the festival with them... Dave got to experience a Mennonite pig-out, we took the kids to the events in the park, went to the parade (M is still talking about that), visited the petting zoo, and went to the stage show. G really wanted to go to the stage show to see the crowning of the queen, because "They might crown you, Mommy!" (and my heart just melted). We spent time together with the whole family, and also spent some time with just Allison and Dave. It was so nice to catch up... man do I wish we could spend more time together! It was so good to see Allison so happy, and we all really enjoyed getting to know Dave.
