swimmingly

I don't know if it is the new haircut (thanks again to Daddy) or the milk mustache, but Hudson is doing great in our two-week, every day swim lessons. It's his first lesson of any kind so I wasn't sure how it was going to go. He loves his teacher, Mister Charley (or Mistuh Chah-yee, in Hudson-speak) and he is surprisingly bold in the floating on the back, which this particular swim school teaches as its primary swimming skill for little kids. He was a little emotional on the second and third days, mainly, I think, because he is a homebody and he realized that we were really going to have to leave home every single morning for 2 entire weeks. But since then he's come marching out after each class, proclaiming, "I floated on my back AGAIN (which he rhymes with 'the train')!" and he has! All by himself! It made me a little misty watching him do it the first time. And a little panicky, if we're honest. It's a tricky thing to trust your kids with strangers.

Harper is doing well too, and it reminded me of a good comment Davene left a while back about waiting to start Suzuki violin instruction with her eldest son. It turns out that in some cases, waiting until kids are more generally mature, means the skills-acquisition is much smoother and quicker. Less screeching on the violin, less flailing in the water. Though I do think that if we hadn't done it with Harper this summer, she was going to get pretty fearful in the water. Look at these pictures she drew today. I think the bird is rather astonishing:
and of course, an underwater scene:

That picture of Hudson in his too-tight pajamas reminded me that a couple of weeks ago, when the husband was getting Hudson ready for bed, he brought in some pj's and insisted it was time they be retired. They wouldn't go over his head AND they were pants that hit right at his knees. Know why? Size 18 MONTHS, that's why. He's almost 4 1/2. I dislike buying pj's because they aren't cheap AND they are kind of garish (unless you spend even more money because there is a paradox of children's fashion that plain=pricey) and they are for sleeping, which means it really matters not one single IOTA what they look like or how they fit.

Helena is at a very exhausting age, as I think I've mentioned. And mentioned. She is also becoming very chatty, mostly posing the same questions ad infinitum. "Where's Hoppuh? Where's Hudson? Where's Sasha? Where's Daddy? Where's Laida Jane's stingray? Where's Laida Jane's cup? Whaddat? Whaddat? Whaddat? More musack? More musack PEASE?" I'm trying to teach her the "one time only" principle but it's not really happening. I also try to ignore and, therefore extinguish, but that always feels a little rude to me. So, my ears on ON FIRE and my nerves slightly frayed. And also my floors in need of mopping. Bathtub in need of scrubbing. Dinner in need of cooking. The end.