15 Push-Ups for Fruit Snacks

Josiah finished up his two-week intro swim class this week.  We got wise and started packing a backpack of activities.  Most days Henry and Caroline would color while Josiah swam.

The last day Josiah got a private lesson since the other boy in his class didn't show up.  We were able to watch him poolside.  Actual poolside, not observation room poolside.  Henry was all smiles the whole time and kept commenting on how fun it looked.  Josiah showed us his freestyle arms:

His backstroke kick:

He even went down the slide and swam to his instructor.  He swam the length of six arm strokes (my poor swimming speak) without coming up for air.  The next level focuses more on breath control and side breathing.  Thank goodness!  He loves swimming.  We signed him up for lessons until the end of May and we'll get him back into it after our trip east.

Josiah also participated in a fitness assessment.  There was a doctoral student studying whether there was a difference between homeschool and public school kids in terms of fitness level/health.  Josiah was excited to participate.  By percent body fat, he should have all the public school kids whipped!  He did his push-ups and got 15 reps.  On his results sheet they checked, "Normal."  He then was asked to complete sit-ups.  He got 0 reps.  His results sheet indicated, "Needs Improvement."  At the end, they gave him fruit snacks as a thank you for participating.  He was a happy camper.  Meanwhile, Henry, who was allowed to participate, chose not to.  That was until we got about 5 minutes from our home and he decided that he wanted to participate.  Too late buddy!  The study was going on for several days, so I asked him the next day if he wanted to do it.  "No," he said. "Can you just buy the fruit snacks?"

School has been going fairly well for Josiah lately.  Usually we have disagreements (daily) because he wants to do his history lesson first.  We do not do it first for many reasons.  However, ever since we have started his cursive handwriting lessons, he is very interested in doing that first.  We have been bonding over cursive.  It has given me the opportunity to praise him more than normal in school.  He really focuses well with the cursive and likes it.

Caroline has been playing with her favorite game while we do school.  The game itself is way too advanced for her, but she likes playing with all of the little people and animals in it.

That and she works on her artwork.  Lately, it has been a bit monochromatic.  She picks a colored marker, gets a sheet of paper, sits down and colors the entire sheet of paper one color.  Every inch of the sheet.

I have been working on getting some of the kids artwork up on the walls.  It is so nice to get pictures hung up.  It makes the house so much more homey.  My favorite picture that Josiah has ever done is finally framed and hung.  He did it when he was 5.  It is a man rowing a boat.  I just love it.  I don't think he even remembers doing it.

"Man Rowing"

Henry's artwork.

The boys have been riding their bikes in our small circle this past week.  Henry's riding seems to have improved dramatically since riding in the street.  The smoothness of the street has helped as the sidewalks here tend to be a bit uneven.  He's been going up and down the (inclined) curbs like it's nothing.

The boys had outgrown their old hats, and with the sun already beating down on us here, they needed some new ones.  Josiah originally picked out an Astros hat and was wearing it around the store while Henry picked his out.  Henry was drawn to the shiny hats (the girls hats that were blinged out), but finally found one he liked enough to get.  So as we were getting ready to go check out I noticed the hat Josiah was wearing cost $34.99.  So we quickly took that piece of gold off his head and had him pick out a new hat.  His criteria was a white "H."  Todd and my criteria was "less than $34.99."

Henry must be used to all my picture taking because the minute we left the store, he stood by a concrete barrier and asked for his picture to be taken in his new hat.  We compromised and had them stand off to the side near a tree for a prettier background.

The boys' week ended well.  Todd left them a note to quietly get dressed and wake him up this morning.  He took them out to breakfast before church.  He said that after the boys ate, they walked around the (empty) restaurant and straightened up all the chairs.  Henry had been wanting to go out to breakfast, so he was really happy with the surprise.

It is hard to believe that Josiah's school year is coming to an end.  Second grade all of a sudden sounds so old.  We are trying to finish up well this next week and a half.