Lil Ariza Monster

So we are on day 2 of the second week and E is doing awesome. He is an amazing floater. Coach Darl says he has great form for his age. On the 3rd lesson Darl started dropping him into the water. He started by lightly dropping him in on his back. I hated it but E once again did awesome. He protests the entire lesson by crying but he still does everything perfectly. He just hates floating on his back. He doesn’t even mind his face in the water. He knows how to hold his breath wonderfully. On day 4 it was time to be drop in face forward. I was dreading this day. I tried very hard not to show my nerves to E. We got there and after about 15 mintues of practicing floating and dropping in on his back it was time to drop face forward. First go was rough. He fought to get over and HE DID IT! He tried it a couple more times and then we were done.

This week Darl starting him practicing floating, dropping him on his back  and dropping him face forward. He does it all so quickly now. I’m am truly amazed at his ability. I know now that if he falls in the lake or a pool he knows how to survive. We’ve still got a couple more days of lessons. Today at the end of class Darl decided to try to get E to glide to the edge of the pool and hold on. At first he didn’t want to do it and would turn to his back to float, but he eventually got it. We are still a long way form him actually swimming. Darl says hes a little young, but cause E is so strong a determined we should give it a go. No pressure though, just fun.

This course has been hard and stressful but I’m now seeing the rewards of all E’s hard work. I feel way more comfortable with him around water, not just because he can survive if he falls in, but that he has way more of an understanding of the water. It is also great to see that he isn’t scared of the lake at all. He’ll go right in. I don’t think he makes the connection, which was one of my concerns in the beginning. I didn’t want him to become afraid of water after this. He is not at all. Soon he’ll be out there diving off the dock and skiing!

Here is my little boy floating away.

Elijah has started swim lesson. We have him enrolled in the infant swimming resource program. It really is a pretty amazing/intense course, but if your child is around water like ours is then it is necessary. This will save my child’s life if he happened to fall in the water.

Day 1 the instructor Darl, who by the way is incredible, wasted no time getting Elijah to float. E cried and fought it for about the first 15 mintues. Finally in the last 10 minutes he actually started to float. He would still fight a bit but he did it. By the end of the class, last 5 minutes, he floated on his own pretty much the whole time. It was awesome. At one point he looked like he had fallen asleep. Here he is on Day 1

Day 2, Darl got straight down to business and had Elijah floating right away. Elijah knew exactly what to do. I was amazing he remembered. Darl said that he did awesome and that he had amazing form. That means we move on to going underwater tomorrow. I thought I was nervous before, not even close, but I totally trust Darl, he’s an amazing instructor. Here he is on Day 2.

I had an amazing Mother’s Day. Daniel made everything so perfect. He cooked me an amazing breakfast of “Kaci style Huevos Rancheros.” That breakfast is quickly becoming my mother’s day tradition. It is delicious. We then headed out to my parent’s lake house to relax and spend time with family. It was the perfect day: beautiful weather, family and food.

Summer, summer, summertime

Time to sit back and unwind.

Summer has begun at the Ariza house.

Just your average kid drinking out of the garden hose.

It was time. After 18 months Elijah got his first haircut. Don’t worry it is still as curly as ever. And no matter what I do I can’t seem to get the sides to look even cause they curly up so much on one side. Overall, I think for my first baby haircut I did a pretty good job.

Elijah, 3 months  |  Dada, 3 months

My conclusion, Elijah doesn’t look exactly like either of us. He’s a total mix.

Elijah, 3 month  |  Mama, 3 months

Hoping to find a similar picture of Daniel at around 3 months so I can compare them.

I looked at Elijah yesterday and it hit me like a ton of bricks, he’s not a baby anymore. I’ve got myself a little boy. He is such a wonderful boy, brimming full of personality and energy.

He also has found his belly button. It is his new favorite thing.

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday. First we attended an amazing service at Summit Church. After we spent the day at my parent’s lake house with Baba and Papa and Grammy and Abuelo. Elijah took full advantage of all the attention from the Grandparents. Next year he will have to share with Luke, which I’m sure he will be more than happy to. He will be more excited that he has a buddy to play with.

We hope you all had an amazing weekend.