We decided it was time to give potty training another go with Jack. It was a massive success! Hooray!
The kids' swimming lessons are going wonderfully. Hazel can swim independently for 10-15 feet and just loves being in the water. She plays in our community pool several afternoons a week. Jack has begun to hold his breath under water and will swim from the wall or the step to his teacher, two or three feet. Unfortunately, our apartment pool is quite chilly, unlike the 90 degree water his lessons are in, and he will not get in and practice at home.
I didn't sign Hazel up for preschool out here (to minimize transitions for her), so other than swimming lessons twice a week, and buying groceries and such, we're mostly homebodies right now. Besides the pool, we've got a few other things gong for us.
First of all, we've got a massive porch to hang out on. I love it! We've also got a big concrete area in front of us that the kids ride their bikes around on. Jack especially has been on his bike constantly since we moved here.
The other pro about being in an apartment complex is that Hazel has a bunch of built in neighbor-friends. There are all these cute seven-year-olds she enjoys playing with. After they come home from school, it's a big party outside every afternoon.
We also have a nice big park right next door, just the perfect distance for H and J to ride their bikes while I carry Gemma and follow behind. We were there yesterday and Hazel was being soooo helpful with Gemma, helping her go on slides and ride on the teeter totter. And Jack loved pushing her in the baby swing for a long time.
Gemma's in a cute phase right now. She's always got a book tucked under her arm. When the kids play animals, she growls right along with them. She loves being chased and still adores peekaboo. She'll hide in my closet while I'm getting ready in the morning and poke out to surprise me. She's adorable.
Our biggest news is that we're getting ready to move ... again. Todd's joining up with a small fire protection company in Livermore. We're quite excited for this new venture. Todd's looking forward to having a more challenging, dynamic job. I'm thrilled that we're going to rent a house. The company bought it, and we've been helping to renovate it. Mostly Todd has been. He's been working himself to exhaustion day after day.
The kids' favorite part about it is that we're going to have a backyard!!! We're all pretty thrilled about it. We've already bought a play structure on Craigslist and set it up. The kids play on it when we go up to work on the house. It was the ticket to finally motivate Hazel to figure out how to pump on a swing on her own. Hip hip hooray!
There's a bike trail entrance beside the house. I anticipate many more outings along this path in the upcoming years... It leads almost directly to the elementary school. I think we'll be taking Hazel to kindergarten on our bikes!
More info to come next month!
