Swimming Lessons

Callen has been taking swimming lessons this past week. Of six lessons I only had to coax him into the water twice. He loves the water, don't get me wrong, he is just very attached to me. He would be in the water without a second thought if I was there the whole time. It is the fact that I am sitting 10 feet away that bothers him. He is doing pretty well. I think it is funny to watch sometimes. He is dancing around and can't stand still the whole 30 minutes of the lesson. He isn't misbehaving, I think just so excited to be swimming. A few kids in the class have gotten in trouble and had to sit on the edge of the pool, Callen hasn't had to do that, so I take that as a good sign. Each day the teacher throws toys out into the pool and the kids have to go pick them up, they call this their "treasure hunt". The idea is to get them to put their face in the water to pick it up with their hands. Callen is pretty resourceful. He picks it up with his toes so he doesn't have to put his face in. He has been bless with my "monkey toes" (as Rusty refers to them). Callen does well kicking and floating. He will jump in when asked with slight hesitation. I plan to take him and Claysen early on Tuesday to the pool just to play then we will stay for the lesson too. I am hoping to take Callen down the slide. I have taken a few pictures, but haven't up loaded them yet, so I will get to that soon so you can see him swimming!

Sasha

We finally figured out that Blue's name is Sasha. My mom asked Callen about his babies when she watched them on Friday and figured it out. Callen told her that Oscar and Dodo are boys and Sasha is a girl. Later that night he told Rusty and I that Oscar is a boy and Dodo and Sasha are girls. Funny how the stories change each day!

We have Triplets!

Last night I gave Callen three little balloons because he correctly showed me three fingers on his hand. We usually reserve balloons as potty rewards but I thought he was cute and smart so I gave them to him. After practially bursting a lung to blow those little suckers up, Callen decided to pretend they were his babies. He had them all lying on the couch sleeping. He rattled off their names,only one of which I understood to be Oscar. When it was story time before bed he tucked them in tight in one of his toy buckets safe for the night. We kissed each one goodnight then laid down for stories. Callen popped back up and said he had to feed Oscar (the orange one). So he lifts up his shirt and pretends to nurse it. He tells me to be quiet while he is doing so. (I guess he really is paying attention when I tell him to be quiet while I am nursing Claysen.) I am quietly grinning and trying not to laugh during all of this, but also very proud of how great a 'Dad' he is to his balloon babies. After Oscar was done nursing and put back to bed I asked what the triplets names were again. Orange is Oscar, Yellow is Dodo, Blue...I couldn't understand enough to even make something up. Callen wanted to sleep on the floor next to them, but I was able to convince him he could sleep in his bed with the bucket next to it so he could watch them. (later he fell of bed and hit his head on the bucket, guess my idea was not the best one!)

The Triplets! Blue, Oscar and Dodo

Callen, the proud "Daddy" of triplets. We have yet to determine whose the "mommy."

I asked Callen again tonight what their names were. I wanted to see if they had changed and if I could understand what Blue's name was. Orange and Yellow are still Oscar and Dodo. Blue's name is Sisisen, I think. I kind of had to press for Blue's name. When I asked him if he knew that one's name he replied, "yes." I had to ask, "What is it?" That is when Sisisen came about. I kind of think he just made a sound trying to decide what it should be. We'll see if it changes tomorrow.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all Dads. I want to mention what a wonderful father Callen and Claysen have. Callen adores Rusty and loves to play golf just like Dad! He loves to help him do anything and everything from building the "tree house" to getting dressed. I love watching Rusty interact with our sons. Watching Rusty be a parent is heartwarming for me. Without Rusty our family wouldn't be complete!

Boys Splashing in the Tub!

This is the kind of moment that make the job of parenting worth it. I hope it brings a smile to your face and adds years to your life!

Jumping Claysen and other stuff

We are trying the Johnny Jump Up again with Claysen. We had previously taken it down because Callen can't leave it alone. This time has gone a little better and Claysen is using his feet to twirl around a bit.

Trying to stand a little bit.


Rub-a-Dub-Dub two men in a tub! They got to splashing so much I had to close the curtain. It was pretty cute! That little tuft of hair coming out the back of Callen's head is a pony tail. At daycare, he got in on the action of the girls getting their hair done. Callen and Claysen are the only boys that go there. I was told he had it in all day and when we got in the tub he refused to take it out! My sitter has one son who is 10 and two younger girls. I am glad we can bring the man power!

Family Ties

We recently had dinner with Rusty's Grandma Nye. She had been in Boise because she was ill and needed to have extra care. Before she left, Faye invited us all over for dinner to see Grandma Nye. Grandma Nye has never met Callen and Claysen. It was nice to be able to spend a few hours with her. Above are Callen and Claysen's cousins on the Nye side, Abbey and Ali Schwager. They belong to Sheila, Fred's daughter.
Rusty, Grandma Bessie Nye, Claysen, Callen and Tanna
Callen loves to take pictures! Ginger was brave enough to lend her camera to him.

One beautiful kid!

This is the photograph we were after. We have one of Callen facing the other way when he was nine months and will hang them next to each other in our living room. My sitter says Claysen has "bedroom eyes" and I think this is the perfect example of them!
Wow, doesn't he look so grown up! I can't believe he is nine months old already. I am a little sad.
Claysen's usual mode of transport is rolling. He gets pretty much where ever he wants to. He really doesn't try to pull himself up or get on his knees yet. I don't mind. I feel like I have enough to keep up with now! He can not get back to a sitting position once he is down rolling. When he leans over to reach for something one knee gets stuck under his belly and the other is turned back behind him. I suspect that this will be how he figures out to get up on his knees to crawl. He will stand a little if we put him in that postion, but he is holding on to something and pretty weak kneed acting. We love him just the way he is and want him to stay little.