I miss the Olympics. I really enjoy them while they are on, even more now that I have a DVR and so could record events that overlapped on the tv schedule. I also enjoyed fast forwarding through the commercials and fluff pieces that NBC insisted on inserting into their coverage. And how many times did I need to see bios of the same five female gymnasts? Um, once was enough for me, thanks.
Issues with NBC's coverage aside, I'm going through withdrawal a little bit this week. To be honest, neither I nor my DVR can keep up with that many hours of tv per week, so it's probably better that it is over. I always really enjoy the swimming and am thrilled that it is getting so much exposure these days. I swam competitively back in the day and really loved it, so it's fun to watch. I always like to watch Michael Phelps swim, he makes it look so easy. I could have done with a little less Ryan Lochte, the more I saw of him, the less I liked him. He's a little too much ego and not quite enough sportsmanship and love of the sport for my taste. I am now a big fan of Missy Franklin - I love that she gets so much joy from swimming and that she didn't bend to pressure to move to an Olympic training center because she wanted to stay close to her family and friends and continue to have fun. She's a great role model - at 17 no less!! I can't wait to follow her career and watch her in Rio hopefully!
My daughter caught the Olympic bug too, and each night this week asked to watch the Olympics. She also made requests to fast forward to her two favorite sports - swimming or beach volleyball.
She specifically asks each night if we can watch "Misty Franklins" (Missy Franklin) swim in the Olympics. She is a water bug herself, at two and a half she is fearless. She jumps right into the pool and heads straight into the ocean without blinking, regardless of temperature. She's going to give her mama a heart attack though, since she thinks she can swim already!
She also loved the beach volleyball. Her daycare provider let me know that one day this week she was on a deck on the playground, bouncing a ball and running around. When asked what she was doing, she replied, "I'm playing beach volleyball." If that interest continues, hopefully she'll end up taller than her mommy!
Showing posts with label swimming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swimming. Show all posts
Friday, August 17, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
February Blahs
Happy Valentine's Day! Or...welcome to mid-February! Valentine's Day isn't a big deal in our house, though it was fun cutting hearts out of red construction paper with my daughter and letting her color all over them for her friends. She had a blast, which I love. I think she will be asking to make more hearts for the next few months though. It took us a couple of weeks to make 10 of them, so she doesn't seem to associate them with just one day. That's alright. Hearts are within my repertoire. Hearts and snowflakes. That's pretty much the extent of my artistic scissor skills. I think I have another year or so before my daughter outgrows both of those. One night when we were working together on the valentines, my daughter started responding to questions with, "Yes, ma'am." At first, I thought I heard her wrong. It's now a regular part of her vocabulary. I think it's cute, especially because she uses it to respond to her daddy also.
February is my least favorite month of the year. It's the shortest, but grayest, month in the mid-Atlantic region. Though this year hasn't really been that cold, which has been nice. I love snow, don't get me wrong...in fact, this time of year, I actually prefer snow to rain because at least snow is pretty. It covers up all the gray and beige dead grass and mud. I am not missing that bone chilling wind that we usually have this time of year, that usually comes with the snow. I'm thinking that we guaranteed it won't be super cold this winter by putting an insert woodstove into our fireplace. I LOVE the woodstove. I can't say it enough. Warm and toasty, pretty, energy efficient. All fabulous things. The less oil we have to purchase, the happier I am. A beautiful flickering fire is one way to fight the winter blahs.
Another way to fight the blahs is to go somewhere warm on vacation. Generally, this is not something that we do because 1) it is expensive and 2) flying or spending a long period of time (more than 3 hours) in a car with a small child is not my idea of relaxation. So we found somewhere close to home to get that warm weather illusion. We spent a few days last week at Great Wolf Lodge out in the Poconos. It only took about an hour and a half to get there, which is perfect. Of course, no trip is without it's kinks, but we got those out of the way early this time...our toddler refused to take her nap in the car on the way, despite the fact that it was naptime and she was exhausted, and I realized when I went to check us in that I didn't have my wallet with me. Both things worked themselves out. Happily, my husband had his wallet with him and the lodge let us switch over to that without issue. Our room was ready early, thank goodness, and so we went and napped before hitting the waterpark. Yup, that's right, the appeal of this place is that it has a big indoor waterpark which is always 84 degrees. It's also open until 9 pm, so we felt no pressure to gamble with skipping naptime or pushing back meals. It was so relaxing. I was a little worried that they wouldn't have much for a small 2 year old to do, but there was a ton of stuff. She's a water bug. She loved it there...she would live there if she could.
THE GOOD:
There were a couple things that were really great about this place. The biggest advantage? You don't have to leave the building. You can walk around in flip flops and shorts for your entire stay. This provides a nice illusion of summer. The water park was really clean, and there were plenty of lifeguards who were clearly well trained. I feel like I am qualified to make that statement, having been a lifeguard for a little over 10 years in the not so distant past. There are slides for all ages...short slides, long slides, kids only slides, slides with tubes for one or two, slides you didn't need to drag a tube upstairs for, a four person tube slide...I think that's all of them, but I'm probably missing one or two. There are many pools, a tree house, you name it, they have it in the waterpark. We hit most of it. There were a couple slides that were for two people over a certain height requirement, so we didn't get to those. Maybe next time we'll join forces with another family, it would give us more options in terms of the adults getting to go on slides.
My daughter's favorite was the wave pool. She treated it just like the ocean - she walked right in and kept going, because she thinks that she can swim. She can't. She's too little to be able to keep her body afloat on her own still. But she's on her way, and I think now we are going to join the YMCA and start going to the swimming class for her age group.
We had pizza the first night that we were there. They have two pizza places, one is their own, the other is a Pizza Hut Express. We skipped the Pizza Hut, as the in-house pizza was really good. It's a takeout place, so we ate in our room, which had a dining table. I'm pretty sure that all of the rooms had a wet bar, which I thought was silly until we got there. It's really just a counter with a sink, a microwave, and a nice size small refrigerator. It came in super handy for rinsing and filling up both regular and sippy cups. Next time we will definitely bring some food with us to cut down food costs/increase healthy eating.
Something they had that I really liked because it was super convenient was that the room key was integrated into the waterpark wristband. So easy, and always on your person. No getting locked out of the room, which was a definite plus. I liked that I didn't have to schlep anything to the waterpark. Just us, in our bathing suits and cover ups. They had towels there for us, still warm from the dryer.
I also noticed some random things while we were there. The staff were very helpful and friendly. They were both well-trained and genuinely nice to us. One of my pet peeves is forced and insincere courtesy. If these people hate their jobs and that they had to put up with me and my family, it didn't show. It was a refreshing change to experience true customer service. The other random observation was that they had recycling receptacles all over the site, including in the room. I love that! I hate having to put a plastic bottle or paper in the regular trash just because I am on vacation. If anything, I consume more bottled beverages on vacation than at home, so it really bugs me. I have had to consciously talk myself into throwing bottles into the trash at hotels or amusement parks because I hate doing it. Recycling is like putting on my seatbelt when I get in the car - it is ingrained so deep that it is really hard for me to reverse it. I am the same way about composting at home, but I am not to the point where I expect to see compost buckets in public places. Yet.
THE BAD:
It can be expensive - we did really well booking an early bird special, and the prices clearly go up around holidays and spring break. We went during the week and left on Friday, I can only imagine how crowded it must be on the weekends. It was exponentially more crowded as we were leaving than it was during our stay.
Something that we didn't have to deal with was the blatant marketing of 'extras' directly to kids. There were stuffed animals, a story wand scavenger hunt type thing, a costume shop, a kids' spa, a bowling alley, an arcade, and a monstrous gift shop, all clearly designed to have children begging from the instant they step through the door. If we go back when she's bigger, there will be clear expectations set ahead of time on what will be out of bounds.
THE UGLY:
Yeah, I really don't have anything for this one except that the wolf/bear/moose southwestern deco themed wall paper, upholstery and carpets was pretty ugly. In some parts of the lodge it was headache inducing. So don't look to hard at the carpet or the walls. :)
THE JURY IS STILL OUT:
There are a few things I can't comment on because we didn't try them. There is a spa, which looked very nice from the outside (I walked past it on the way to the waterpark), but I never actually set foot inside. We also didn't go bowling, visit the kid spa or basically do anything else that cost extra. We also didn't eat at the buffet for lunch or dinner.
All in all, it was a great little trip. Only one tantrum, which may be a record, and she was over tired when it hit, so I kinda saw it coming. She slept the whole way home. I arrived home more relaxed than I usually do from vacation, and would love to go back. I think I'm going to be keeping an eye out for Great Wolf special deals from now on...
February is my least favorite month of the year. It's the shortest, but grayest, month in the mid-Atlantic region. Though this year hasn't really been that cold, which has been nice. I love snow, don't get me wrong...in fact, this time of year, I actually prefer snow to rain because at least snow is pretty. It covers up all the gray and beige dead grass and mud. I am not missing that bone chilling wind that we usually have this time of year, that usually comes with the snow. I'm thinking that we guaranteed it won't be super cold this winter by putting an insert woodstove into our fireplace. I LOVE the woodstove. I can't say it enough. Warm and toasty, pretty, energy efficient. All fabulous things. The less oil we have to purchase, the happier I am. A beautiful flickering fire is one way to fight the winter blahs.
Another way to fight the blahs is to go somewhere warm on vacation. Generally, this is not something that we do because 1) it is expensive and 2) flying or spending a long period of time (more than 3 hours) in a car with a small child is not my idea of relaxation. So we found somewhere close to home to get that warm weather illusion. We spent a few days last week at Great Wolf Lodge out in the Poconos. It only took about an hour and a half to get there, which is perfect. Of course, no trip is without it's kinks, but we got those out of the way early this time...our toddler refused to take her nap in the car on the way, despite the fact that it was naptime and she was exhausted, and I realized when I went to check us in that I didn't have my wallet with me. Both things worked themselves out. Happily, my husband had his wallet with him and the lodge let us switch over to that without issue. Our room was ready early, thank goodness, and so we went and napped before hitting the waterpark. Yup, that's right, the appeal of this place is that it has a big indoor waterpark which is always 84 degrees. It's also open until 9 pm, so we felt no pressure to gamble with skipping naptime or pushing back meals. It was so relaxing. I was a little worried that they wouldn't have much for a small 2 year old to do, but there was a ton of stuff. She's a water bug. She loved it there...she would live there if she could.
THE GOOD:
There were a couple things that were really great about this place. The biggest advantage? You don't have to leave the building. You can walk around in flip flops and shorts for your entire stay. This provides a nice illusion of summer. The water park was really clean, and there were plenty of lifeguards who were clearly well trained. I feel like I am qualified to make that statement, having been a lifeguard for a little over 10 years in the not so distant past. There are slides for all ages...short slides, long slides, kids only slides, slides with tubes for one or two, slides you didn't need to drag a tube upstairs for, a four person tube slide...I think that's all of them, but I'm probably missing one or two. There are many pools, a tree house, you name it, they have it in the waterpark. We hit most of it. There were a couple slides that were for two people over a certain height requirement, so we didn't get to those. Maybe next time we'll join forces with another family, it would give us more options in terms of the adults getting to go on slides.
My daughter's favorite was the wave pool. She treated it just like the ocean - she walked right in and kept going, because she thinks that she can swim. She can't. She's too little to be able to keep her body afloat on her own still. But she's on her way, and I think now we are going to join the YMCA and start going to the swimming class for her age group.
We had pizza the first night that we were there. They have two pizza places, one is their own, the other is a Pizza Hut Express. We skipped the Pizza Hut, as the in-house pizza was really good. It's a takeout place, so we ate in our room, which had a dining table. I'm pretty sure that all of the rooms had a wet bar, which I thought was silly until we got there. It's really just a counter with a sink, a microwave, and a nice size small refrigerator. It came in super handy for rinsing and filling up both regular and sippy cups. Next time we will definitely bring some food with us to cut down food costs/increase healthy eating.
Something they had that I really liked because it was super convenient was that the room key was integrated into the waterpark wristband. So easy, and always on your person. No getting locked out of the room, which was a definite plus. I liked that I didn't have to schlep anything to the waterpark. Just us, in our bathing suits and cover ups. They had towels there for us, still warm from the dryer.
I also noticed some random things while we were there. The staff were very helpful and friendly. They were both well-trained and genuinely nice to us. One of my pet peeves is forced and insincere courtesy. If these people hate their jobs and that they had to put up with me and my family, it didn't show. It was a refreshing change to experience true customer service. The other random observation was that they had recycling receptacles all over the site, including in the room. I love that! I hate having to put a plastic bottle or paper in the regular trash just because I am on vacation. If anything, I consume more bottled beverages on vacation than at home, so it really bugs me. I have had to consciously talk myself into throwing bottles into the trash at hotels or amusement parks because I hate doing it. Recycling is like putting on my seatbelt when I get in the car - it is ingrained so deep that it is really hard for me to reverse it. I am the same way about composting at home, but I am not to the point where I expect to see compost buckets in public places. Yet.
THE BAD:
It can be expensive - we did really well booking an early bird special, and the prices clearly go up around holidays and spring break. We went during the week and left on Friday, I can only imagine how crowded it must be on the weekends. It was exponentially more crowded as we were leaving than it was during our stay.
Something that we didn't have to deal with was the blatant marketing of 'extras' directly to kids. There were stuffed animals, a story wand scavenger hunt type thing, a costume shop, a kids' spa, a bowling alley, an arcade, and a monstrous gift shop, all clearly designed to have children begging from the instant they step through the door. If we go back when she's bigger, there will be clear expectations set ahead of time on what will be out of bounds.
THE UGLY:
Yeah, I really don't have anything for this one except that the wolf/bear/moose southwestern deco themed wall paper, upholstery and carpets was pretty ugly. In some parts of the lodge it was headache inducing. So don't look to hard at the carpet or the walls. :)
THE JURY IS STILL OUT:
There are a few things I can't comment on because we didn't try them. There is a spa, which looked very nice from the outside (I walked past it on the way to the waterpark), but I never actually set foot inside. We also didn't go bowling, visit the kid spa or basically do anything else that cost extra. We also didn't eat at the buffet for lunch or dinner.
All in all, it was a great little trip. Only one tantrum, which may be a record, and she was over tired when it hit, so I kinda saw it coming. She slept the whole way home. I arrived home more relaxed than I usually do from vacation, and would love to go back. I think I'm going to be keeping an eye out for Great Wolf special deals from now on...
Monday, October 17, 2011
Sweet Toddler of Mine
I love the developmental and emotional stage my daughter is currently in. I will preface this with a disclaimer: Yes, I think my kid is really cute and I know I am biased. I am her mother after all. In the interests of full disclosure, I do not think everything she does is cute. I know that she is not perfect. She does things I do NOT like and that I am trying like crazy to nip in the bud so that they don't become habit. This post is not about those things, but rest assured, they exist. I'm sure I will be posting about them later. That said, this post is about cute and sweet things she does that I love and that I know I will miss when she is a teenager. If that is not your cup of tea, I suggest you stop reading now. Disclaimer over. On to the fun!
She is super cute with the fractured sentences she has started to put together. Though many of them are focused on bossing me around, I can't help but smile. This sometimes makes it hard to discipline her because I can't keep a straight face. She is getting more verbal by the day and she has a mostly sunny disposition. The terrible twos have not yet hit with full force. She has tantrums, don't get me wrong. And boy is she stubborn. (I am sticking by my story that she gets that from her father. 100%. My mother tells me it won't hold up in court. Hmm.) But her tantrums are more like a passing summer shower than a massive hurricane.
She will sit still long enough for me to read at least a couple pages of her books to her. I was a little worried early on because everyone says to read to your baby from day one. Which worked until my baby girl became mobile. Reading to her required chasing her around the house and/or trying to read two words before she flipped through 5 pages in 1.5 seconds. Now she will sit and participate, pointing to characters or objects she knows, identifying colors, and otherwise enjoying the story. She still flips multiple pages and gets impatient if the story is too long, but on the whole, reading with her is a lot of fun.
Monkeys are her favorite. "Monkeeee!" She loves the 5 Little Monkeys song and will shake her finger and sing along, "No more monkey jump bed!" when we come to the line, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" If we happen to be in bed at the time, she will also jump on the bed, sit down, and pat her head while saying, "bump". Smart girl!
She sat still for pigtails for the first time yesterday...and actually left them in! Woo hoo, progress! This is good, because she won't keep barrettes in. I was beginning to think about keeping her hair cut short until she's old enough to take care of it herself.
She will take her little people and put them in their beds or arrange them around a table. She likes to pour tea for Mommy and Daddy and herself and "drink" it. By the way, love this little tea set, one of the cutest toys ever! She will talk to her little people, which is also really cute. She sounds just like Boo from Monsters, Inc. Love that!
She runs everywhere. She climbs the steps very well. Despite her mother having a heart attack from time to time watching her do so. She loves to play with sidewalk chalk and blow bubbles. She will finally wear the swimming bubble that lets her be as independent as she would like to be in the pool. (Of course, just in time for cold weather. Guess we'll be joining our local YMCA this winter.) She seems to think that she can swim already. This one is cute and stressful at the same time.
If she thinks I am not paying close enough attention to her, she will very gently put her palms on my cheeks and turn my head, looking earnestly into my eyes while trying to get me to understand what she wants. This is one of the things I know I will miss when she truly becomes a big kid. It's right up there with how she holds my hand as we walk along and putting her arms around my neck and her head on my shoulder when I carry her. She's getting too heavy for me, but I know I will carry her like that as long as I can because the day will soon arrive when she doesn't want that anymore.
She is in that stage where she refers to herself in the third person. She has been able to say her own name for quite a while now, and says it clearly and with glee. There is a happy exclamation point at the end of it, I can almost see it when she says it. We found naming her to be a challenge, we wanted to make sure we got it right since it will be with her forever. Hearing her proclaim it so clearly and with such verve, it is another affirmation that we got it right. I can't imagine her with any other name now.
Of all the things my sweet girl is doing now, my favorite is this: when I arrive to pick her up or come home from being out and about without her, her little face lights up with a big smile, she says, "Mommmeeee" and comes running for a big hug. It doesn't get any better than that!!
She is super cute with the fractured sentences she has started to put together. Though many of them are focused on bossing me around, I can't help but smile. This sometimes makes it hard to discipline her because I can't keep a straight face. She is getting more verbal by the day and she has a mostly sunny disposition. The terrible twos have not yet hit with full force. She has tantrums, don't get me wrong. And boy is she stubborn. (I am sticking by my story that she gets that from her father. 100%. My mother tells me it won't hold up in court. Hmm.) But her tantrums are more like a passing summer shower than a massive hurricane.
She will sit still long enough for me to read at least a couple pages of her books to her. I was a little worried early on because everyone says to read to your baby from day one. Which worked until my baby girl became mobile. Reading to her required chasing her around the house and/or trying to read two words before she flipped through 5 pages in 1.5 seconds. Now she will sit and participate, pointing to characters or objects she knows, identifying colors, and otherwise enjoying the story. She still flips multiple pages and gets impatient if the story is too long, but on the whole, reading with her is a lot of fun.
Monkeys are her favorite. "Monkeeee!" She loves the 5 Little Monkeys song and will shake her finger and sing along, "No more monkey jump bed!" when we come to the line, "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!" If we happen to be in bed at the time, she will also jump on the bed, sit down, and pat her head while saying, "bump". Smart girl!
She sat still for pigtails for the first time yesterday...and actually left them in! Woo hoo, progress! This is good, because she won't keep barrettes in. I was beginning to think about keeping her hair cut short until she's old enough to take care of it herself.
She will take her little people and put them in their beds or arrange them around a table. She likes to pour tea for Mommy and Daddy and herself and "drink" it. By the way, love this little tea set, one of the cutest toys ever! She will talk to her little people, which is also really cute. She sounds just like Boo from Monsters, Inc. Love that!
She runs everywhere. She climbs the steps very well. Despite her mother having a heart attack from time to time watching her do so. She loves to play with sidewalk chalk and blow bubbles. She will finally wear the swimming bubble that lets her be as independent as she would like to be in the pool. (Of course, just in time for cold weather. Guess we'll be joining our local YMCA this winter.) She seems to think that she can swim already. This one is cute and stressful at the same time.
If she thinks I am not paying close enough attention to her, she will very gently put her palms on my cheeks and turn my head, looking earnestly into my eyes while trying to get me to understand what she wants. This is one of the things I know I will miss when she truly becomes a big kid. It's right up there with how she holds my hand as we walk along and putting her arms around my neck and her head on my shoulder when I carry her. She's getting too heavy for me, but I know I will carry her like that as long as I can because the day will soon arrive when she doesn't want that anymore.
She is in that stage where she refers to herself in the third person. She has been able to say her own name for quite a while now, and says it clearly and with glee. There is a happy exclamation point at the end of it, I can almost see it when she says it. We found naming her to be a challenge, we wanted to make sure we got it right since it will be with her forever. Hearing her proclaim it so clearly and with such verve, it is another affirmation that we got it right. I can't imagine her with any other name now.
Of all the things my sweet girl is doing now, my favorite is this: when I arrive to pick her up or come home from being out and about without her, her little face lights up with a big smile, she says, "Mommmeeee" and comes running for a big hug. It doesn't get any better than that!!
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