Thursday, July 19, 2007

Who Is That Silly Man in the Hawaiian Shirt?

Ed decided to come along to swim lessons today, as we decided that we would need to go out to lunch in order to make it to the library program at 1:30. When he came out, dressed festively in his Hawaiian shirt, K. said to him in sincere horror, "You are not going with us dressed in that!" Alas, the poor child will have to learn early that one cannot reform ones parents. Ed Did come along dressed in his colorful shirt, and walked her all the way to her group at the edge of the pool, too.


T. is working hard at his swimming, and today they got to do a little diving as well. (My picture is supposed to be of him doing the back stroke, but he actually seems to be doing more of a floating thing. His instructor did compliment him on his improved stroke, though.) K. had another fun day of jumping and "swimming." As Ed commented, it is a good thing that they are having two weeks of lessons, since the instructors in K.'s group are still pulling the children around the pool, and K. hasn't swum a single independent stroke. (The picture of K. shows her being pulled along backwards. Perhaps she is supposed to be kicking?)


We let T. decide on where to go for lunch, and he chose the Speedy Chef. It had a lot more variety than Burger King, but was also considerably less speedy. The kids got real ice cream with their kids' meals, though, which they thought was fabulous, and T. thought that the arcade games lining one wall were a big plus (I disagreed with him on this). Ed had a Philly Steak sandwich which he said was almost as good as the ones on the boardwalk in New Jersey, but that it couldn't be as good without the boardwalk atmosphere, so a trip to the Speedy Chef did not fully satisfy his desire to go on a trip to New Jersey. Oh well.


The library program, the last for the summer, featured a husband and wife team who brought in and performed on a great variety of musical instruments. They were good musicians and singers, and really kept the children's' attention while describing and demonstrating the instruments. They had dulcimers, both hammered and bowed; kazoos; drums; harmonicas; a banjo; guitars; and many others whose names I can't remember. Both T. and K. enjoyed the music and the sing along.


The children have been bringing in their reading logs all summer, and today was the day that the prizes were awarded. We had been told that if you brought in a reading log each week, you would get a book at the end of the program. What do you suppose the chances are that both children would get books that they already own? Pretty good, actually! Each child who participated in the program had a book with their name on it, and every book was different. I think the librarian went to some effort to match each child with a book appropriate to them in age and interest, which is pretty marvelous, really! T. got Deltora Quest and K. got A Kiss for Little Bear, both of which are such excellent choices for them that I had already bought them (well, actually, Little Bear was mine when I was little, but it is K.'s now). I felt a little ungrateful asking if it might be possible to make exchanges, but did it anyway because the kids were pretty disappointed and also because I am in training to be a less wimpy mommy. Didn't matter anyway, though, as exchanges were not allowed. After their initial disappointment, the children rallied nicely and decided to give their new books to friends who (we hope) do not already own these titles. They had a marvelous time wrapping the books (they love playing with wrapping paper and tape!) and making cards, and the whole silly situation (which really serves to demonstrate that we have do have a wonderful lot of books) ended up being a fun occasion!

1 comment:

Elisheva Hannah Levin said...

Well, I must have reached that age at which, as a parent, I have become a social embarrassment, because I like the shirt! It looks cool and summery on your DH.

But then, in three short years, when I become eligible for AARP membership, I intend to wear purple! ;)