Yesterday was swimming. Both boys did remarkably well -- though Xander showed a marked interest in swimming the LENGTH of the pool, rather than the width. His teacher gently explained, for the zillionth time, that when he was swimming as well as his big brother -- and that meant no more floats etc -- then he could swim the length like his brother. Well, Xander proceeded to use 'big circle arms', to kick beautifully, to swim 'eyes in' -- all heading the length of the pool... his progress was a zig zag. He would start swimming and would veer towards the long direction, his teacher would redirect him, he would shift back to the length, she would redirect him... Then came the back stroke. "I WANT TO DO IT MYSELF" he roared. 'Okay' she agreed, 'Show me.' He smiled sweetly and cork screwed. 'No' she said firmly, 'No cork screwing. We are swimming on our backs. Here, I will help you.' 'NO!' he shrieked, piercing the air and everyone's eardrums with his cry. 'NO! I WANT TO DO IT MYSELF!' Again she gave him the chance. Again he cork screwed. Finally, after three repetitions, he looked at her with a wide brown eyed smile -- and did the back stroke!
Jason swam beautifully and dived beautifully, though in the former case, he had a marked tendency not to take breaths... And all seemed relatively well until swimming was over and we went back to the changing room. There Jason, agreeably enough, undressed and went to use the rest room. Returning to the main room, however, he became distracted and wandered around the room with his underwear half on, half off. I asked him to finish dressing PLEASE! while I struggled to undress a squirming two year old who had suddenly decided that he wanted to wear the towel. I managed to get Xander's clothes off (Jason had still not pulled his underwear up) only to have the imp discover that HEY! HE HAS MALE GENETALIA! Oh, he was thrilled! He began dancing around (naked) singing his 'peen' song and when he noticed his brother's barely dressed condition, sang about Jason as well. From behind the changing room curtain, I could hear the grandmother of the other little boy (Sam, 5) laughing. I am grateful that she chose to be amused. I told Xander firmly 'Yes, I know you have a peen. Now please put it away and GET DRESSED!' They did, eventually, and we managed to get out of there but oh...
Another amusing anecdote: My mother claims that Xander has 'melting brown eyes.' When I told Xander this, he drew himself as tall as he could and said in a dauntingly repressive tone 'I DO NOT MELT!' I laughed and laughed, much to his disgust, and then explained that 'No, that wasn't what I meant. I meant that Gma melts when she sees them.' He cocked his head, thought for a moment and said 'That is okay then.' Awhile later, when I was repeating the story to my mother, he overheard and informed me solemnly 'GIRLS MELT.' Aiiiyeee.
And finally, one day when Xander demanded something I responded with 'Yes, sir, Lord of the Universe!' He glared at me and said firmly 'NO! I AM BIGGER. I AM XANDER!' Oh heavens above!
Meanwhile, Jason has completed the next section of the Captain Wavy Cape comic strip and is working on his 'Scooby Doo and the Monster Chef' story. I am thinking of entering some of his work into the local art show. We will see. I have to do some investigating on that. It could be fun, though.
On a less happy note, the Merc is acting up. The boys and I have been carless all day, something that would not bother me if this area were walkable but it is not. There are no sidewalks and people drive the roads here with no evident awareness that there is anyone else about -- not the sort of situation I would want to chance with two little boys. The mechanics said that the problem is the power steering pump which, luckily, is under warrenty and so will be replaced no charge -- but we won't have the car until tomorrow. And, of course, they did find other items that they claim need to be worked on -- the brakes, the air filter etc. Sigh. I really don't want to have to take on car payments. Oh for the lucky ticket in the lottery!
No comments:
Post a Comment